Brickfields, Chippendale

Beef brisket. Say hello to your new friend for life. Just as the new Brickfields bakery cafe is breathing new life into the backstreets of Chippendale, the beef brisket sandwich is guaranteed to put a little extra pep into your step at lunchtime.


View into the bakery at Brickfields

Although the cafe may only have been open for two weeks, they've been baking wholesale bread here for three months, on the site of the former Mecca coffee roastery, supplying sourdough to Flour & Stone, Cornersmith and Love Tilly Devine.

Heading up the bakery is Simon Cancio, Luxe founder and former operating partner at Freda's. Simon explains that back then, Paul Geshos from Mecca would often pop into Freda's for a drink and Simon used to joke they should start up a bakery cafe together. Paul took him seriously and before they knew it, Brickfields was born.

Freda's may be a different establishment these days (former head chef Ibrahim Kasif is now at Porteno and bar manager Marty Campaign has moved onto Palmer & Co) but Simon's sourdough lives on in Chippendale.


Olive sourdough and soy & linseed batards

The bakery shift starts at midnight and runs through until about 8am. At the moment they're only producing four types of sourdough: plain, olive, soy & linseed and fig & walnut, focussing on consistency before they expand their range.


Sourdough loaves beneath the blackboard menu

The loaves are piled up in the window and a huge glass window into the baking area gives passersby a peek into all the kneading action.


Sourdough bread

The breads are reassuringly heavy with a golden crust that's bubbled and crisp. I bought a huge loaf of fig and walnut sourdough ($13) that was eaten for breakfast over the weekend, studded generously with slices of fig and toasted chunks of toasted walnut.


Bran muffin $4

The pastry section is relatively new, and will be expanded as they juggle oven timings with the bread bakers. The croissants are all sold out by lunchtime but Simon says they're worth the early alarm clock. The croissants are baked twice a day and usually sell out by mid-morning.



Custard tart $4.50


Lemon and polenta cake $4.50


Ready-made sandwiches 

In the kitchen, head chef Ben Abiad (ex- Love Tilly Devine and Sean's Panaroma) is in charge of a concise blackboard menu that changes daily. They make all their own pickles -- lined up like an army on the cafe shelves -- too.

Seating is modest with three large tables and benches outside and counter seating inside. It's a quiet cool street however, and most lunchtime locals are happy to order takeaway and park themselves on the brickwork surrounding a nearby tree.


Sopressa, asiago and pickled eggplant sandwich $10

The sopressa, asiago and pickled eggplant sandwich comes straight from the wooden crate in the display case. The thin shavings of sopressa, asiago cheese and pickled eggplant are a perfect Mediterranean combination but it seems a little on the small side for $10.


Quinoa, pepita, sunflower, pecan, currants, yoghurt and honey $10.50

Sunflower seeds, pepitas and pecans give a welcome crunch to a mound of quinoa, but the jewel in the crown is the poached peach, soft and yielding beneath a dollop of yoghurt and a drizzle of honey.


Pearl barley, sorrel, peppers, olives, tomato, parsley and mint $11.50

Health-giving virtue continues with a plate of pearl barley, deliciously toothsome, livened with fresh tomatoes, sorrel leaves and mint against the salty tang of kalamata olives.


Beef brisket with radish, anchovy mayonnaise and chilli $13

Needless to say I only had eyes for the beef brisket. The beef is slow roasted for six hours and the meat is gloriously soft and fatty with a caramelised char on the edges. If you're a fan of pork belly, this is the beef version. All the richness is neatly offset by slivers of radish, pickle spears and a generous slather of red pepper sauce. The anchovy mayonnaise just adds extra goodness.

Although the menu changes daily, Simon admits the beef brisket is likely to stay as a regular feature. "I think there'd be a riot if we took it off the menu!" Phew!


Piccolo lattes

And with Mecca looking after your caffeine, you can count on a good coffee to finish too.




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Brickfields
206 Cleveland Street (near Balfour Street), Chippendale, Sydney
Tel: +61 (02) 9698 7880

Opening hours:
Monday to Friday 7am-3pm
Saturday and Sunday 8am-4pm


Related Grab Your Fork posts:
Chippendale - Freda's
Ultimo - Mecca Espresso

Kampong Boy, Hurstville

Forest Road in Hurstville is always bustling with shoppers, but there's a tiny one-way section of road that is significantly quieter. It's here you'll find Kampong Boy, squeezed between two Sichuan restaurants either side.

Inside the decor is understated and simple, but the dark timber tables, hanging lights and the spinning wooden fan overhead has echoes of a Malaysian kopitiam coffee house.

There's a steady stream of locals through for dinner - couples grabbing a quick to eat, and families tucking into matching bowls of laksa.


Chicken and beef satay $15 for 1 dozen

The menu is reasonably brief, although it's present in a somewhat dizzying collection of laminated double-sided sheets. There are several types of laksa (including Hakka fried pork), a "toast corner" with kaya coconut jam and butter on thick toast, and they even serve Nestum prawns ($18.80), made with a crispy fried oat mixture.

We place a fairly large order and it doesn't take long for the food to arrive. In fact it all seems to arrive all at once, forcing us to play dinner table tetris with a relentless onslaught of dishes.

The satay is the first to arrive, skewers of chicken and beef marinated and grilled until lightly caramelised. The tender meats are even better when plunged into a bowl of peanut sauce, and eaten with chunks of cucumber and raw red onion.

Nasi lemak ($11.80) arrives next, a meal usually eaten by one, but we manage to share the crunchy fried chicken wing, boiled egg, achar pickled vegetables and peanuts with anchovies.


Curry fish head $33.80

The assam curry fish ($15.80) is sold out so we upgrade to the curry fish head, a bubbling cauldron of aromatic soup heaving with a lucky dip of tomato, mushroom and fish. Fish heads are a seriously underrated delicacy - they offer a succulency of flesh not found elsewhere, combined with pockets of gelatinous fatty deposits and my favourite treat: the fish eye!


Bak ku teh $18.80

Bak ku teh, or pork rib soup (teh actually means tea), isn't overly herbal, but the sweet soup still has a comforting and nourishing effect. Fishing the murky depths brings forth treasures of mushroom, bean curd skin and hunks of pork.


Fried kuey tiaw $12.80

Fried kuey tiaw (char kway teow) yields a huddle of stir-fried rice noodles, tossed through with prawns, bean sprouts, omelette, garlic chives and slivers of lap cheong Chinese sausage. It's not as charred as I would have liked but the noodles are soft and springy.

Belacan fried eggplant $10.80

There's much to love about the belacan fried eggplant, a contrast of sweet and creamy eggplant batons stir-fried with a fiery belacan shrimp paste mixed through with nuggets of pork mince. It is a touch on the oily side though.


Rendang beef  $15.80

And finally a clay pot filled with rendang beef, cooked to a fork shredding level of tenderness. We mop up the sauce with rounds of flaky roti. Dinner tetris complete.




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Kampong Boy
370 Forest Road, Hurstville, Sydney
Tel: +61 (02) 8094 8409

Opening hours:
Tuesday to Friday 11.30am-2.30pm and 5.30pm-9.30pm
Saturday to Sunday 11.30am-4.30pm and 5.30pm-9.30pm


Related Grab Your Fork posts:
Hurstville - The Good Kitchen
Malaysian - Albee's Kitchen, Campsie
Malaysian - Aseana Food Village, Randwick
Malaysian - Chinta Ria... Mood for Love, Sydney
Malaysian - Malacca Straits, Broadway Ultimo
Malaysian - Malay Chinese Takeaway, Sydney
Malaysian - Mamak, Haymarket
Malaysian - Mamak Village, Glebe

King Island Dairy cheese launch and Sydney by helicopter

Cheese and a helicopter ride. Could there be a more exciting invitation to receive for a Friday? The event was the launch of two new cheeses by King Island Dairy - the first in seven years - to be held in the Hunter Valley. Forget the three hour drive. We'd be flown by helicopter! And so I found myself in one of three choppers with seven other food editors, journalists and bloggers last Friday on a glorious Sydney morning.


Our helicopter (a Bell 206?) for the day

I'd never been in a helicopter and was ridiculously excited. I still let out a little whoop in my head whenever a plane makes its steep ascent during take-off.

Flying in a helicopter is a completely different experience. There's the whir of the blades overhead that increases to a deafening drone and blades of grass start billowing in the distance. We were given headsets to speak with each other, and as the chopper lifted off the ground into a hover, it really did feel just like a movie.


Taking off from the Bondi Helicopters helipad at Sydney Airport

I usually have my nose pressed up against the window during a flight, but seeing Sydney from inside a mobile bubble gives you much more of a birdseye view. Watching the Sydney sprawl unfold before your eyes, seeing the splashes of blue from backyard pools and catching glimpses of familiar landmarks makes you feel just like a kid again.

I could not stop taking photos.


The Lakes golf course with the Sydney central business district in the distance


Waverley cemetery


Bondi Icebergs against the backdrop of the city


Cliffs at Dover Heights


Watsons Bay with the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Opera House in the background

The three-hour road trip to the Hunter Valley would only take us one hour in the helicopter, with our chopper averaging speeds of about 180 kilometres per hour (and no traffic!).


National Parks in the Central Coast hinterland


View of the other two helicopters through the window


Landing at Margan Wines in Broke


Our table at Margan Wines 

We arrived at Margan Wines in Broke and revived ourselves with sparking wine and canapes before moving to the cellar room indoors for the official cheese launch.


Canapes of fresh figs with blue cheese 


Canapes of gnocchi with porcini mushrooms and parmesan


Naomi Crisante leading our tasting of the two new cheeses by King Island Dairy

Naomi Crisante led our cheese tasting, accredited cheese judge and creator of the Australian Grand Dairy Awards (which she managed for nine years).

There are few things more thrilling to a food lover than finding someone else as easily excited as you are. Naomi does a little celebratory jig when she cuts into the double cream and its ripe centre oozes forth.


Furneaux Double Cream and Black Label Huxley Washed Rind

We're led through a brief backgrounder on King Island Dairy - how the cows graze on a unique blend of European grasses that were populated by a shipwreck from Europe hundreds of years ago. The herd is a mix of Fresian and Jersey cows, blended so it is very creamy with plenty of flavour. King Island milk is very high in minerals, and theories abound that the windswept island affects the grass and makes it slightly salty.

The Furneaux Double Cream is the first cheese we taste and Naomi encourages us to closely inspect the coat, its core, its texture and smell before we finally taste it. It's a rich and creamy cheese (34% fat) with a lustrous glossy centre and buttery appearance. There's a distinct sweetness from the Jersey cream and a nuttiness that Naomi says reminds her of creamy cauliflower.

One of the distinct differences with this cheese is the use of geotrichum candidum to create the white layer of mold on the outside. Whereas most bries and camemberts use penicillin candidum, King Island Dairy's head cheesemaker Ueli Berger uses geotrichum for a softer and more velvety surface. It grows very slowly, which is why most cheesemakers avoid it, but it gives a distinct smell and flavour of hay and even cauliflower.

The Black Label Huxley Washed Rind is one of the milder washed rinds I've encountered which makes it quite an approachable cheese for even the wary. I was intrigued to learn that washed rinds were originally developed by monasteries in France to sustain them during Lent when meat was not allowed to be eaten. Washed rinds are notoriously whiffy but usually taste far milder than they smell. The cheeses are made with bacteria and cloth washed over the surface of the cheese to try to create a sticky rind. The result should be deep and earthy barnyard aromas.


Braised lamb shoulder with chickpeas and spiced eggplant; and
Roasted spatchcock with mushrooms, fregola and currants 

Back on the verandah, we progress onto our main courses for lunch, quite heavy dishes given the 30C heat outside but cooked well nonetheless. The braised lamb shoulder has been shredded and then re-rolled into a neat column, and the roasted spatchcock has a crisp skin that works well with the sweet burst of currants and pearls of fregola.


King Island Dairy cheeses: Furneaux Double Cream; Cape Wickham Double Brief; Surprise Bay Cheddar; Black Label Huxley Washed Rind and Roaring 40s Blue

After mains there are more cheese, including my favourite Roaring 40s Blue. I love eating this on ginger thin biscuits (either from Ikea or Anna Thins from the supermarket) for supper.


King Island Roaring 40s Blue and the Black Label Huxley Washed Rind 


Chocolate delice with salted peanut brittle 

Desserts continue our descent into decadence: a quenelle of sinful chocolate delice on chocolate soil with smithereens of salted peanut brittle and a banana tarte tartin with crisp pastry, toffee-glazed bananas, rum and raisin ice cream and a thick puddle of butterscotch sauce.


Banana tarte tartin with rum and raisin ice cream and butterscotch sauce

We're all several kilograms heavier for our flight back to Sydney, but amazing they all manage to take off successfully!


Watching the other helicopter hover before takeoff 


Heading back to Sydney


Central Coast quarry 


Central Coast 


Sun, sand and skies of the Central Coast


Approaching Sydney

Here a couple of cheese tips from cheese expert Naomi Crisante:

• Always take cheese out of the fridge for at least two hours before eating so they can soften and flavours can develop. 
• The best way to store cheese in wrapped in the original paper in a large Tupperware container. If you don't have the original paper, use baking paper.
• The best way to store cheese is to eat it! Cheese is hard to keep for more than a week or two once it's been cut.

Hello home!

Grab Your Fork attended the King Island Dairy launch at Margan Wines as a guest of King Island Dairy.