Chocolate Dog Goes Mexican By Nite, Newtown

Corn chip in cheese dip

I love that you can find tasty food in the most unusual of places in Sydney. Like a spicy chocolate mole sauce in a Newtown corner eatery. By day The Chocolate Dog is your typical Aussie eggs and bacon cafe. At night, the site is sub-let to another restauranteur who offers a completely different menu: Mexican fajitas and tamales, burritos and chocolate mole.



It's a cosy and simple little space. Only a handful of tables inside, several two-seaters on the footpath outside. The mood is down-to-earth casual. The kind where, to get to the bathroom you traipse past the kitchen and skirt the edge of the storeroom, whilst the workers just smile and nod as you pass on by.


Queso fundido $9.50
Melted cheese, racheros sauce and mashed beans served with corn chips

I'm devastated to find out they have no tamales today, the traditional snack of ground corn with spices wrapped in corn husks and grilled. Instead we start with the queso fundido, a little white bowl filled with a molten lava of blistering hot cheese. We poke our crisp sturdy corn chips past the rancheros sauce and beneath the bubbling suface to find a mash of cooked kidney beans.


Beef burrito grande $15.90
Large flour tortilla filled with beef, beans or chicken
Served with sour cream, guacamole and rice

R has the beef burrito grande, a soft tortilla tunnel oozing with beef mince, and flanked by a mound of rice, dollops of sour cream and guacamole, a rainbow of salsa and a salad of greens.


Fajitas with prawns $19.50

AT has the prawn fajitas - a hot plate of fantastic aromas that envelopes us all at once. The prawns are plump and juicy and spicy and sweet.


Tortillas, salsa, guacamole and sour cream (prawn fajitas)


Mole poblano $18.50
Chicken breast fillets cooked in a unique spicy chocolate sauce
Served with salad and rice. Mexico’s most traditional dish

I only have eyes for one prize: the mole poblano. It's my first time trying this dish and I approach it with Hairy Biker-like gleeful enthusiasm. It's a thick sauce that almost looks like a lake of chocolate. I dip my fork in and taste it thoughtfully.

There's a definite taste of caocao but its bitterness is tempered by the richness of tomato, onion, and smokey chilli that packs a good dose of heat. It's slightly sweet but salty too, with the heady aroma of cloves and cinnamon, thickened with ground nuts. A sprinkling of sesame seeds adds a contrasting crunch, and I cleanse my palate every few mouthful so the bizarre but addictive cocoa flavour hits me clearly time and time again.


Strawberry pancake, Mexican style

AT is intent in dessert, so after a series of pleading exchanges, the Chef finally relents and says he will serve a strawberry pancake, Mexican style. A Mexican pancake is a tortilla soaked in strawberries blitzed with cream and doused generously with tequila. The tortilla is a little chewy but we appreciate the flavour sensation anyway.

A Chocolate Dog. A strawberry pancake. And some chocolate mole for all.




Chocolate Dog Goes Mexican by Nite
549 King Street, Newtown, Sydney
Tel: +61 (02) 9565 2526
Wednesday to Sunday 6pm till late

NB. Chocolate Dog closed briefly in Sep 07 but re-opened in Feb 08

Related GrabYourFork posts:
Mexican - Guzman y Gomez, Newtown

Grab Your Fork: Hot Blog, SMH Icon 30/04/07

Grab Your Fork makes it as one of Seamus Byrne's Hot Blogs in his Webwatch section of today's Sydney Morning Herald. He writes:

"This is one woman (and family and friends) on a tour of the food of Sydney and surrounds. No matter where she chooses to eat, Helen writes up the food with care and photographs it all with the precision of a catalogue shoot. Follow along on her road trips and get ready to salivate."

I like the catalogue comparison. Yes, indeed. I'll have that one, and ahhh that one please.

You can check it out in today's The Guide + Icon liftout on page fifteen.

Thanks to Rebecca for letting me know about the piece. And if you're here because of said blurb, then welcome. And here, have a napkin. Just in case :)

Bavarian Bier Cafe on O'Connell, Sydney

EDIT: Bavarian Bier Cafe on O'Connell has closed. The York Street outlet is still open. 


Giant schnitzel and schnapps challenge $15.00

I can never resist a food challenge.

Get schnitfaced, implores the Bavarian Bier Cafe website.

So we did.



The Bavarian Bier Cafe on O'Connell Street is housed in an elegant art deco building that was once a bank. We have a table booked at the back of the room, a Japanese-style long wooden table with benches either side.


Spaten Munchen $9.90 500ml


Franziskaner Hefe – Weissbier Hell Lychee flavour $7.50

Beers are ordered (the fruit beers are quaintly listed under the sub-heading "Ladies bier") and it's only five minutes before our meals arrive.


Soft shell crab schnitzel $27.00
with chilli capsicum jam and garden salad

Only one person opts out of the shnitzel challenge, ordering the soft shell crab schnitzel. Three large-ish soft shell crabs are deep-fried in a schnitzel-like coating.

Meanwhile the rest of us are busily hoeing into a schnitzel so big it could almost block out the sun. A golden mound of chips rests underneath, a spray of rocket leaves, red onion slivers and a slice of tomato form a token salad on the side. The schnitzel (normally $24.50) is a little dry but it's nothing a generous squeeze of lemon and a healthy drizzle of mayonnaise won't fix.

There's a little bit of sighing, some exhalation, a few moments of seat-shifting, but in the end... success. All gone.



Our reward is a shot of schnapps, chosen from an extensive menu (normally $8.00). Our orders appear on a giant paddle held by a beaming waitress, her arrival heralded with the incessant clanging of a giant cow bell.


Schnapps: butterscotch, cherry and sour apple

And somehow there's still room for a forkful of dessert.


Apple strudel with vanilla anglaise $9.50


View Larger Map


Bavarian Bier Cafe on O'Connell (CLOSED - The York Street outlet is still open)
16 O'Connell, Sydney
Tel: +61 (02) 9221 0100

Monday to Friday from 10.00am till late
Saturday from 11.30 till late

The $15 Giant Schnitzel and Schnapps Challenge is only available on Tuesdays at Manly Wharf, York or O'Connell (correct as at April 2007)



Related Grab Your Fork posts:Bavarian Bier Cafe York

Doma Bohemian Bier Cafe
Lowenbrau Keller, The Rocks
Mohr and Mohr, Surry Hills
Una's, Darlinghurst
Una's on Broadway, Ultimo

Tony Roma's, Sydney

Tony Roma's Red Hots $30.00 full slab
with corn and baked potato

Barbecue ribs must be the closest thing to the pleasures of chicken feet that your average Joe Blow will ever experience. It's not that far a leap really. It's messy and primeval, extricating flesh from bone with nibbling teeth, vigorous sucking and all-too-loud sighs of pleasure.


Complimentary warm baguette with herb butter

This is our second trip to Tony Roma's. The ribs here are always satisfyingly blackened to a caramelised crisp on the edges. We line our stomachs with warmed bread spread with grainy herb butter before our behemoth plates arrived, crammed to the edges with glistening ribs and a jostle of accompanying sides.


Blue Ridge Smokies $30.00 full slab
with baked beans and corn

It's carnivore paradise, a vegetarian nightmare, as we grunt our way through our ribs, side platters steadily piling high with stumps of bone licked clean. The beef ribs are stronger in flavour and much heavier than the pork version. The giant corn cob is a little soggy, but it's a welcome respite from the attack of protein and carbs.

The baked beans aren't as smooth and creamy as I'd like, but the baked potato is soft and comforting, and the chips are deliciously crisp.


Southern Smokey Beef Ribs $30.90 six-rib portion
with chips and corn

Next on the rib radar is Hurricane's at Bondi. I've heard good things. I'm on my way!


Tony Roma's
121 – 123 Sussex Street, Sydney
Tel: +61 (02) 9299 8500

Open 7 days: 11.30am - midnight
(last orders 10.30pm)

Related GrabYourFork posts:
Tony Roma's, March 2006

Sydney Kopitiam Malaysian Cafe, Ultimo

Food should always be social.

It's even better when it means you can order more food.



Four of us indulged in a communal lunch of dishes at Sydney Kopitiam Malaysian Cafe. It's not particularly busy the day we visit, this popular hawker-style eatery on Harris Street, down near Hannah's Pies and the Powerhouse Museum.



It's been a year since I last had a meal here and I'm more than ready to grab my fork.


Prawn sambal $12.80
Stir fried prawns with onion in sambal sauce

The prawn sambal is deceptively spicy. It's quite a sweet dish with generous petals of onions and rosy tomato quarters. The sambal is sweet like a thick chilli jam, and the heat builds slowly but steadily to a lip-tingling pleasure.


Hakka style pork $13.80

Last time I'd dined here with CucinaRebecca we'd ordered the tasty Hakka style pork. My lunch companions are happy to try this dish but it's a little fattier than I remembered, with great planks of fat-ribboned pork belly complete with gelatinous skin. The sauce seems milder too, than the star-anise laden herbal concoction I'm sure we'd delighted in on our first encounter.


Curry lamb $10.50
Lamb in authentic Malaysian curry sauce

The curry lamb is aromatic and lightly thickened with coconut milk. Cubes of lamb flake apart with a gentle prod of the fork. Chunks of potato are tender and creamy.


Belacan kangkung $8.50
Water spinach fried with spicy prawn paste

My favourite dish is the belacan kangkung, a jumble of water spinach tossed through with belacan, a Malaysian type of fermented shrimp paste. It's sweet and salty, spicy with chilli and deliciously pungent with garlic, shallots and fermented shrimp.

The tubes of kangkung, light and green and almost squeaky on the teeth, are perfect virginal vessels for the assault of flavours.


Malacca chendol with shaved ice $3.80

My malacca chendol is a delicious drink/dessert. Ice shavings are packed in tight over a huddle of chendol, green worm-like noodles made from starch. The lot is poured over with coconut milk and there's a generous slosh of palm sugar syrup, lending the drink a rich caramel flavour that borders on painfully sweet.


Ice kacang $4.50

Three of us share a modest bowl of ice kacang for dessert. A couple of spoonfuls each is the perfect end to a filling meal. Buried beneath the mound of syrup-drenched ice is a motley assortment of sweet fruits and beans: red bean and jackfruit, lychee and jelly, there's even a spoonful of creamed corn that plays some havoc with our brain's idea of "dessert". It tastes a little jarring to my tastebuds, a psychological barrier no doubt.

A little bit of Malaysia in downtown Sydney. And you don't even need a passport to get there.





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Sydney Kopitiam Malaysian Cafe
594 Harris St, Ultimo, Sydney
Tel: +61 (02) 9282 9883

Open 7 days
Lunch 12pm-3pm, Dinner 6pm-10pm

This has been included as an Intrepid Eat on Grab Your Fork's Top 10 Sydney Eats for Tourists. Read the entire list here.

Related GrabYourFork posts:
Sydney Kopitiam Malaysian Cafe, April 2006

Cafe Kasturi, Haymarket
Kopitiam Malaysian Cafe, Ultimo
Malay Chinese Takeaway, Sydney, April 26, 2007
Malay Chinese Takeaway, Sydney, April 3, 2007
The Malaya, Sydney
Tan's Malaysian, Ultimo

Mother Chu's Taiwanese Gourmet

Chinese tea $1.50

It's always an experience eating at Mother Chu's. Packed with students, weary shoppers and the constant chatter of friends, there's a constant thoroughfare of diners in this quick eats dumpling and noodle house.

You're quickly steered to a table by an efficient-looking waitress, a menu thrust towards you, and then roughly thirty seconds later she appears again, notepad in hand, ready to take your order.

There's a frantic scurry in the handbag when you remember too late (again) that once you order you must pay straight away. And there she stands with palm outstretched and waiting.

So the fast-forward arrival procedure makes the wait for your tea a yawning chasm of time slowly trickling away forever. Five minutes seems like an eternity, but suddenly it's here, a glass of tea with boiling water seemingly hotter than the Earth's molten core.

Blowing on the tea does little to cool its thousand-degree temperature, and your shrieking teeth are a futile barrier to the debris of tea leaves and chrysanthemum flowers that float persistently on top.

There's no time to dwell on this though, as your bowl of noodles is suddenly plonked on your table.


Szechuan tendon beef noodle soup $7.50

The Szechuan tendon beef noodle soup is a clear soup with rice noodles (a little overcooked for my liking) with bright patches of green vegetables, bits of chopped scallion and chunks of beef with soft jelly-like tendon. The beef pieces are slightly cold but warm up well when dunked briefly into the soup.

It's not as hot as I'd expected a Szechuan soup to be, and some of the beef pieces are almost crunchy with hard bits of tendon. It's eaten easily though, the soup slurped down faster than the still-scalding glass of chrysanthemum tea.

Mother Chu's Taiwanese Gourmet
Shop 1, 86-88 Dixon Street, Haymarket, Sydney
Tel: +61 (02) 9211 0288

Related GrabYourFork posts:
Mother Chu's, Nov 2005
Mother Chu's, Nov 2004

Malay Chinese Takeaway, Sydney

Assam laksa $8.50

The last time we'd been at Malay Chinese Takeaway, Mango Man had confided he'd yet to find a good assam laksa in Sydney. My ears had pricked up immediately at this foodie challenge, and off onto the internet I'd went.

Bingo. I found the places, and I made a list. We made grand plans. We would strike them off one by one. Jimmy's Recipe, To's Malaysian Gourmet and maybe Temasek out in Parramatta.

And then I suddenly realised that on the Malay Chinese website, assam laksa was listed as one of their weekly specials. On every fifth Thursday. Nestled in between the mee siam and lum mee, and the mee rebus and beef noodle soup.

The mobile phone rings at 12pm. "Malay Chinese?" is the G-man's first sentence.

"Count me in... hey, imagine if the assam laksa is the special today," I'd said.

You can picture the little happy dance that took place when we neared the counter.



Unlike ordinary laksas, assam laksa does not use coconut milk. It's a sweet and sour broth, made using mackerel soup with the distinctive flavour of tamarind (assam). In addition to flaking mounds of mackerel are slivers of cucumber, sweet pineapple pieces, shavings of raw onion and sprigs of whole mint leaves on top.



The pineapple flavours really come through the salty sourness, and the rice noodles are thick and chewy like plump albino spaghetti.

"This is very good," pronounces Mango Man.

"Oh my gosh... sooooo good........" wails the G-man.

There's a complexity of flavours to this dish but it's a harmonious balance that pleases the palate. We're slurping up every spoonful. I keep going until I see the white of my bowl at the bottom.


I win. I'm on the left.

Not everyone's gone for the assam laksa today though. And not everyone trusts themselves around big bowls of soup either.


Chicken laksa $7.70
with bib 50c

The G-man reviews his empty bowl with sadness, then suddenly perks up. "You know what," he says, pushing back his chair. "I'm gonna order another two bowls takeaway. I must have more. I'll put them in the fridge. I can't wait another month!"

We can the hear the anguished cry from two blocks away when the G-man texts me. "They've run out of assam! What will I do!"

I know what I'm doing.

I assam I'll be back.

Malay Chinese Takeaway
Shop 1, 50-58 Hunter Street, Sydney
(near corner of Bligh and Castlereagh Streets)
Tel: +61 (02) 9231 6788

Monday to Friday 11am-7.30pm
Saturday 11am-6pm

Related GrabYourFork posts:
Malay Chinese Takeaway, April 3 2007

Cafe Kasturi, Haymarket
Kopitiam Malaysian Cafe, Ultimo, April 2006
Kopitiam Malaysian Cafe, Ultimo, April 2007
Malay Chinese Takeaway, Sydney, April 26, 2007
Malay Chinese Takeaway, Sydney, April 3, 2007
The Malaya, Sydney
Tan's Malaysian, Ultimo

Bavarian Bier Cafe on York, Sydney

Crackling roast pork belly $26.00
served with Granny Smith apple compote,
sauteed potatoes and red sauerkraut

Appearances can be very deceiving.

When our orders of crackling roast pork belly were first laid down at our table, I was already planning what I'd have for dessert. Veruca Salt and I were both starving. Ravenous. And it very much looked like a two-course dinner tonight.

"How do I cut it?" wailed Veruca, poking at the curved roof of crackling with a fork.

"Along the lines they've scored," I replied. "It's easy."

We both took different approaches. Whilst I carefully ate a mouthful of the pork (so moist, and juicy, and just-cooked so) followed by a carefully portioned sliver of crackling, Veruca Salt ate a few bits of crackling (with generous nodding and much mmmm'ing approval) before gently removing the entire piece and placing it to one side.

"Are you saving that for last?" I asked, with a knowing smile.

"Absoutely. I always save the best for last," she laughed.


Henkell Trocken Piccolo $2.00 on Thursdays 5pm-8pm
(normally $9.50)
Rhine Valley, Germany

Our congenial moods had been buoyed by our rapidly empyting piccolos of sparkling.

"Just two dollars?" I'd asked with some incredulity when the waitress told us of the $2 Thursday special.

"Yes, two dollars... but um, very small glass," she'd warned, leading us both to anticipate shot glasses of sparkling wine.

But, no, a piccolo is what arrives, which fills more than a small glass, more than a champagne glass in fact. Perhaps our German-sounding waitress had thought we'd be expecting a stein.


Sauerkraut $6.00

If we'd known the pork belly arrived with red sauerkraut we wouldn't have placed a side order of extra sauerkraut (I must have sauerkraut, Veruca had insisted).

Perhaps it is this extra mound of cabbage that pushes us over the edge, but we're both soon exhaling in that familiar "oh boy am I full but by jove I'm still gonna finish this meal".

We make our way through both sauerkrauts, the roast potatoes (interspersed with bits of crunchy bacon pieces), and the chunky apple compote. The pork is definitely the star attraction though, the pale flesh covered with a generous layer of milky-hued fat. The crackling shell is salty (perhaps a little too much) but earth-shatteringly crisp and very satisfying.

"I don't think I should have saved all this for last," whispers Veruca. "It's a little too much goodness all at once."

The only quibble? It's very very noisy inside with the post-work crowd echoing loudly in a cavernous bier hall with no insulation.

I'm rubbing my stomach when an order arrives next to our table, the unmistakable scent of chilli salt squid wafting over towards us. It's fried, and spicy, and somehow it makes me start drooling all over again.



Bavarian Bier Cafe on York
24 York Street, Sydney
(near corner of King Street)
Tel: +61 (02) 8297 4111

Monday to Friday from 10.00am till late
Saturday from 11.30 till late

Related GrabYourFork posts:
Bavarian Bier Cafe on O'Connell
Doma Bohemian Bier Cafe
Lowenbrau Keller, The Rocks
Mohr and Mohr, Surry Hills
Una's, Darlinghurst
Una's on Broadway, Ultimo

Win tickets to the Lovedale Long Lunch, 19-20 May 2007

That's right. Grab Your Fork is pleased to offer its very first reader competition! How do you enter? Keep reading...

Many of us know the pleasures of cruising the vineyards of the Hunter Valley. But imagine if those glassfuls of wine came accompanied with platefuls of delectable food.


Plating up

It wasn't long after my trip to the Hunter Valley that I attended a media preview for The Lovedale Long Lunch. The idea is simple but genius.

Gather seven participating vineyards on or near Lovedale Road. Pair them up with local restaurants. Invite the public to visit on the third weekend in May (19-20 May, this year, 2007) and watch as everyone enjoys wine, food and music as they make their leisurely from one vineyard to the next.

We were able to sample bite-sized portions of some of the meals and desserts available, all paired with matching wines (of course!).



I snapped photos of the full-size portions which will be served on the day, and in exchange for use of my images for promotional purposes, The Lovedale Long Lunch crew have agreed to offer two prize packs for readers of Grab Your Fork (who wants payment? prizes are so much more exciting)!


Barbecued succulent lamb
marinated in fresh rosemary served with
wholesome paprika spiced cous cous,
parsley & pumpkin salad and garlic butter ciabatta
- Prepared by Chez Pok and available at Gertelmann Hunter Estate


Barbecued Atlantic salmon
on a warm tart of caramelised onions, roma tomato and rosemary
with crisp pancetta, wild rocket salad and basil aioli
Prepared by Mojo's on Wilderness and available at Warraroong Estate


King prawns
tossed with sweet chilli, lemon and lime juices, garlic and fresh herbs
served on a bed of steamed jasmine rice
Prepared by Bel Posto Cafe Restaurant and available at Wandin Valley Estate


Homemade pan fried gnocchi with roasted duck
baby spinach and toasted pistachio
Prepared by Il Cacciatore Restaurant and available at Sandalyn Wilderness Estate


Crisped cheese risotto with a soft bocconcini centre
on a roma tomato sugo with charred chorizo sausage and rocket
Prepared by Amanda’s Restaurant and available at Emma's Cottage Vineyard


Baked sweet pastry tart with rum and raisin ricotta
sharp lemon curd and butterscotch caramel
Prepared by Chez Pok and available at Gertelmann Hunter Estate


Belgian chocolate, date and hazelnut tart
with King Island cream and butterscotch syrup
Prepared by Amanda's Restaurant and available at Emma's Cottage Vineyard


Trio of cheeses
accompanied by a sweet fruit chutney and crackers
Prepared by Bel Posto Cafe Restaurant and available at Wandin Valley Estate


Passionfruit panna cotta with white chocolate creme anglaise
seasonal berries and almond biscotti
Prepared by Il Cacciatore Restaurant and available at Sandalyn Wilderness Estate


THE PRIZE
Package for two people to attend the 2007 Lovedale Long Lunch (winners will have to make their own way to the Hunter Valley)

• 2 x Main Meal tickets that include a complimentary glass of wine $20 each
• 2 x Dessert/Cheese tickets $8 each
• 2 x Commemorative Long Lunch glasses $5 each
• 2x Long Lunch Caps $15 each
• 2x Rover Coach Shuttle Tickets for the day $25 each (for travel between vineyards)
  

Total Prize Value $146

And we have two prize packs to win!


HOW TO ENTER:

Simply answer the following questions (check out the Lovedale Long Lunch website for all the answers):

Q1. Which vineyard will be serving the lamb shank braised in Tuscan herbs of sage and rosemary?

Q2. Which vineyard will be serving the chocolate caramello cheesecake with vanilla bean creme anglaise?

Q3. When is the Lovedale Long Lunch for 2007?

Submit your three answers along with your full name, email address and contact telephone number to grabyourfork_lovedale_comp@yahoo.com.au. Entries close Thursday 11:59pm May 3, 2007.

Winners' details will be forwarded onto Lovedale Long Lunch organisers. Prize pick-up will be from Allandale Winery on the day. All personal details will be destroyed at competition conclusion.

Good luck!