BAREBURGER

I know, I know - we're in Tokyo so why are we eating hamburgers?  Well, like I mentioned in the previous post, Japanese restaurants have a tendency to serve one thing and one thing only and after several days where everyone had to agree to one-dish meals, I started googling burgers in Tokyo and found Bareburger Ginza which had just opened the day before (31 March 2016) at the brand-spanking new Tokyo Plaza Ginza department store which was conveniently located a few minutes walk from our hotel in Shiodome.

Bareburger Organic opened its first outlet in 2009 in Astoria, Queens and now has 28 locations mostly in New York but with a few scattered in Connecticut, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Ohio, Washington DC.  Its' first overseas franchise was in Tokyo with Dubai and Frankfurt opening soon.   Voted by Zagat as New York's best burger and Michelin-recommended for four years in a row (2011-2014), Bareburger has a lot to live up for since they use only free-range, pasture-grazed, humanely raised and antibiotic, gluten and hormone-free beef and chicken.  Even the beverages are organic and the french fries are cooked in non-GMO Canola oil.

The menu has Bare "burgers and wiches", from¥1380/US$13 for the Buttermilk Buffalo Chicken Sandwich to ¥2980/US$28 for the Tomorrow Burger - a limited Tokyo special of Ozaki (Wagyu) beef tenderloin burger .  For vegetarians, there's The Shroom, a wild mushroom patty with alfalfa and balsamic mayo wrapped in kale.  There are also Greens (salads) and Bare shares which have side or share portions of french fries, sweet fries (sweet potato), onion rings and buttermilk chicken bites plus a couple of sliders.  They have a kid's menu called Cubby Fare (¥880/ US$8.50) - a choice of Panda (buttermilk chicken bites and buttermilk ranch dip) or a Grizzly (burger with Egmont cheese on a brioche) served with fries, dessert and organic juices (orange and apple) or organic milk.  They also have house-made natural soda, lemonade, iced tea and creamy milkshakes and a large selection on organic wines and spirits, organic craft beers and cocktails.  Desserts are ice cream sundaes: either the banana foster or the choco-peanut butter. 

On both visits, once for dinner and another to indulge the C's Grizzly craving, we enjoyed the food and the atmosphere plus the super friendly service and English-speaking (a challenge in Japan) staff.  We enjoyed the Buck Wild - burger with pimento, fried egg, crispy onions, dill pickles on a brioche bun) and the Supreme - burger with Egmont cheese, country bacon, green-leaf, chopped fried, special sauce on a birch bun topped with house-made onion rings.  We shared the fries and rings combo and the buttermilk chicken bites with classic lemonades and a creamy chocolate milkshake served in tall ice-cold aluminum cup.  The experience was all-American and guilt-free because of the organic and non-GMO ingredients they use making it one of our best meals in Tokyo.  Wonder when they'll open one in Singapore?  Soon, I hope.

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Bareburger

Tokyo Plaza Ginza 10-B (10th floor), 5-2-1 Ginza, Chuo-Ku, Tokyo 104-0061

Telephone: +81 3 3572 5315

Open daily, 11:00AM to 11:00PM (Last Order 10:00PM)

ABC KITCHEN

On our second evening in New York, we met up with Chef Z, an friend from the nineties who is the current executive chef at the Conde Nast Cafeteria (where we had breakfast a few days later but that's another story).  She knows her way around the NY culinary scene and chose the restaurant - ABC Kitchen - as she knew I was a fellow foodie who would appreciate something new.  The last time we saw each other was in 2010 in Singapore for a Hainanese Chicken lunch at the well-known Wee Nam Kee.

T and I showed up at ABC Kitchen where Z was already seated and waiting for us.  ABC Kitchen, another creation of chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten with Phil Suarez, prides itself in its' locally-sourced menu serving modern cuisine using local, sustainable, organic and seasonal produce in a lively atmosphere.  The restaurant is located inside the ABC Carpet & Home  store with it's own entrance on East 18th street.  Listed as the Best New Restaurant of 2011 by the James Beard Foundation, the restaurant has been packing it in since it opened and is popular with both locals and tourists, young and old.

On that Tuesday evening, the restaurant was packed with large groups including the Food Network Senior Vice-President and General Manager Bob Tuschman who was seated right beside us.  The dinner menu is on one-page clipped onto a piece of cardboard with a large selection divided into market table (shared plates), appetizers, pastas, whole wheat pizzas, main courses and sides.  Food is served in different antique-looking dishes on polished wooden tables while servers are dressed in checkered shirts and jeans contributing to the casual farm-to-table cuisine at ABC Kitchen.

We ordered their freshly-made sodas (no Coca-Cola served here) - ginger-lime for Z and the basil-lime for me while T had a glass of Pinot Noir.  While we studied the menu, the chef sent out a complimentary starter, the heirloom tomato toast, for us to share - a slice of toasted country bread drizzled in extra-virgin olive oil and topped with sliced heirloom tomatoes and sprinkled with sea salt.  This was a sign of the food to come with the flavor of the fresh summer tomato making this dish a star.  Next, we were given a basket of fresh country bread and a dish of tiny spicy radish.

We ordered several items from the market table and appetizers to share so we would have a chance to taste several dishes form the menu.  Pretzel-dusted calamari - lightly breaded crispy and not oily, these squid bites came with marinara sauce and mustard aioli followed by crispy squash blossoms drizzled in honey and grated goat cheese - again, a perfect bite of sweet, salty and crunchy.  Another complimentary dish was sent out to our table - roasted beets with house-made yogurt - yellow, red and orange beets tossed in a cold creamy light yogurt.

For our main courses, we all shared two dishes: an appetizer portion of pasta - cavatelli with cherry tomatoes, prawns and and chili breadcrumbs and the mushroom, Parmesan, oregano and farm egg whole-wheat pizza.  The pasta was light and filling with the crispy spicy breadcrumbs bringing texture to the dish while the pizza was heavier with the mix of earthy mushroom and oregano and the rich flavors of the Parmesan and raw egg mixed into the hot dough.  We tried our best to polish off the pizza but Z ended up taking half home to her hubby for a midnight snack.

We were already quite full but couldn't resist to share the toasted almond panna cotta - a classic panna cotta served in a glass topped with apricot jam, compote and crumble - a tangy, sweet taste of summer.  Along with this, the chef sent us a final complimentary dessert - their signature sundae, which several chefs name as their favorite late-night sweet treat on Chefs Feed.  This delicious dessert is served in a large bowl where three scoops of salted caramel ice cream sit in a pool of dark chocolate sauce where a mix of candied peanuts and caramel popcorn float - all this topped with a dollop of whipped cream - heaven in a bowl and a cheeky dessert rendition of the classic ice cream sundae.  It was a perfect end to a perfect meal and one that I would gladly repeat every time I visit the big city. 

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ABC Kitchen

35 E. 18th Street (between Broadway & Park)

New York NY 10003

Telephone: +1 212 475 5829

*Open daily for dinner from 5:30 p.m. till 10:30 p.m. Monday to Wednesday, till 11:00 p.m. on Thursday, till 11:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and till 10 p.m. on Sunday.

*Brunch daily.  During the week from 12:00 to 3:00 and on weekends from 11:00 to 3:30 p.m.

KEMIRI AT UMA UBUD

After our fruitful morning exploring Ubud, we stopped by the Como Shambhala Estate's sister property Uma Ubud for a quiet lunch a deux since there was no one else at the restaurant that day so we had whole place to ourselves.

The open-air restaurant is an all-white bale right beside a large Koi pond and surrounded by a lush tropical garden.  We were offered two menus - an orange one which had typical Continental cuisine and a beige one that offered their healthy Como Shambala cuisine with an emphasis on raw food.  A had their linguine with garlic, fresh herbs and tuna while I chose two starters: the raw tuna, seaweed and noodle salad followed by the gazpacho.

We were served a basket of homemade bread - cheese rolls, crispy crackers and brown bread while we waited for our lunch to be served.  A's pasta was simple but tasty and the portion was big enough to share.  My tuna salad was delicious and filled with several types of seaweed and cold noodles tossed in a sesame oil-based vinaigrette.  The gazpacho was less successful as it was a tad too spicy (hint of too much Tabasco maybe?) although it was also refreshing on such a hot day.  We opted not to have dessert but were given a small taster anyway which was a nice touch - a pomegranate granita over sliced papaya and some sticky rice pudding at the bottom of the shot glass.  It was a pleasant lunch and one that made me realize that raw food is pretty good.

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Kemiri at Uma Ubud

Jalan Raya Sangginan

Banjar Lungsiakan

Kedewatan, Ubud

Gianyar 80571

Telephone: +62 361 972 448

CAFE SENIMAN

Last week, we went up to Ubud to visit our friends Marcello and Michi at Gaya Ceramics and to have a look at their sale items to add to our growing collection of Gaya plates and platters.  After an hour spent looking through their shelves, we went to have a coffee at Cafe Seniman which I had heard about from friends of Novita who had recommended it as a good place for coffee in Ubud.

Cafe Seniman is off the main street Jalan Raya Ubud and is a tiny two-story cafe with a wooden coffee cart with a few stools right by the entrance and a few more tables further up on the terrace.  The place is simply decorated with the focus on their coffee- organic, made-to-order brew of specialty Indonesian coffee.  On that morning, they had the Sumatra Gayo mountain coffee bean which is their house bean and two others: Sulawesi Toraja Kalossi and the Kintamani from Bali.  I had a Sulawesi espresso macchiato served on a special wooden palette which held a glass of water and a tiny plate of local coconut-encrusted rice cakes.  Service was friendly and the barista clearly knew what he was doing.  It was a good early stop after a morning of retail therapy at Gaya.

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Cafe Seniman

Jalan Sriwedari (near Taman village)

Ubud 80571

Telephone: +62 361 972 085

*Open daily from 10 a.m.

AQ

Starting 2012 right with this post on a restaurant that specializes on seasonal local produce that we stumbled upon with good friend AM who picked us up for lunch and drove around the area brainstorming on where we could go for our "catch-up" lunch session.  He remembered that a new restaurant had just opened nearby (only three weeks open when we went there in early December) and that's how we ended up at AQ.  AQ means "as quoted" which is usually the term added onto menus when seasonal dishes or specials are listed.  Here, the menus change every season so specials and seasonal items are what are featured every day.

AQ is a restaurant dedicated to seasonal dining.  It's a long room with a bar near the entrance and exposed red brick walls, long banquettes and simple wooden tables.  Cheeky accents include large industrial whisks used to house light bulbs in the kitchen, flowers and plants based on the season (bare branches and some reddish and yellowish leaves when we were there).  They were still serving the autumn menu when we had lunch that day - about three or four starters, a few main courses and four desserts.  (It's the winter menu that is being served now.)

After a quick look at the menu,  we all chose different dishes. A had a simple arugula salad which we were supposed to share but when I saw AM's warm chicory salad, I had to have one - a slice of sourdough toast with a soft poached egg in the middle, pearl onions, chicory and bacon chunks in a mustardy vinaigrette - simple but delicious, a perfect example of how quality ingredients in season can make all the difference in a dish.

Main courses were the canneloni with spinach and mushrooms for AM, the Ricotta gnocchi with celery and mushrooms for A and a crab roll for me. Both pasta dishes were rich and earthy with autumn vegetables and my shredded crab meat in a soft roll was complemented with a Meyer lemon dressing and served with tiny organic arugula and hand-cut potato chips.  Again, simplicity in the presentation and preparation and just the produce and freshness making the dish stand out.

Finally, we shared two desserts: a ginger cake with  and a rich classic chocolate devil's food cake which were good and when we asked for coffee, we were surprised to find out that they didn't have an espresso machine although they did serve organic French press coffee which we declined.  All in all, a great chatty session with AM catching up on all the gossip and when we asked for the bill, we got a pleasant surprise.  They had given us a 20% discount as AM was a local and worked nearby.  Nice touch and a nice ending to a delicious lunch.

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AQ

1085 Mission Street

San Francisco CA 94103

Telephone: +1 415 341 9000

*Open daily for dinner from 5:30 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. and for Sunday brunch from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

BLUE BOTTLE COFFEE

Hands down the best coffee I've had all year was at Blue Bottle Coffee.  I first tried their coffee after an almost half-hour wait at the Ferry Building Marketplace and immediately googled another location nearer the hotel.  We found one at the Mint Plaza (two blocks away) and went there for breakfast for three days in a row, in other words, every single day we were in San Francisco.

They open at 7:00 a.m. and start serving breakfast from 8:00 a.m.  As always there is a queue snaking out the door but that's the price one has to pay for well-made non-Starbucks coffee.  They have all sorts of coffees on their coffee menu - coffees made from a semi-automatic espresso machine, a hand-operated lever espresso machine, individual drip coffee, single-origin siphon coffee, two types of iced coffee: New Orleans style and Tokyo style plus the original Nel drip or Nel pot coffee.

Blue Bottle Cafe is self-serve so after queuing up for your coffee and breakfast order, get a number, take a seat at one of the counter tables and wait.  Service is fast so soon after, your breakfast is served.  At Blue Bottle, organic coffee and local organic sustainable ingredients are used from the produce to the cleaning products (Ecover) and the staff clearly enjoy what they do.

On the first day, I had the Belgian waffles - freshly made and served with hot organic Shady Farms maple syrup and unsalted whipped butter while A started with the Pecan granola with Clover farms organic milk followed by the Judy's Organic Sonoma farm poached eggs with Acme toast.  Everything has an organic pedigree at Blue Bottle and one can really taste the difference.  Needless to say we had three perfect cappuccinos to accompany our breakfast.

On another day, perfect cappuccinos again, this time just with the thick cut Acme toast with whipped butter and Mountain Fruit jam.  Finally, we had a chance to try their brunch on a Saturday morning.  Similar to the breakfast menu with the addition of a soup, a salad, a grilled cheese sandwich and several ways with poached eggs.  C had the bacon and leek frittata while I had my usual Acme toast and aside from the usual cappuccinos, we splurged on a siphon pot of the single origin Oaxaca which we had as is, a delicious end to our last day at Blue Bottle Coffee.  I'm writing this and I'm already craving a Blue Bottle coffee.

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Blue Bottle Coffee
at the Mint Plaza
66 Mint Street
San Francisco CA
*Open daily from 7 to 7 on Mondays to Fridays, 8 to 6 on Saturdays and 8 to 4 on Sundays
*Breakfast Mondays to Fridays from 8:00 a.m. and lunch from 11:30 a.m
*Brunch on Saturdays and Sundays from 8:30 a.m.

FERRY BUILDING MARKETPLACE

San Francisco, one of my favorite cities which I haven't been to since 2003 has changed a lot but still remains the same.  The laid-back vibe is still there along with the love for all things organic, local and  seasonal.  No visit would have been complete without a stop at the Ferry Building Marketplace.  And if you're luck enough to be there on Tuesday, Thursday or Saturday, you'll get a chance to experience the Ferry Plaza Farmer's Market and see the local producers in action.

We arrived in San Francisco on a Thursday morning and after checking in to our hotel, we walked the ten or more blocks down Market street towards the Ferry Plaza.  Originally constructed in 1898, it was rebuilt in 1991 and opened as a historical building housing the best produce and specialty food purveyors like Cowgirl Creamery, Frog Hollow Farm, Acme Bread Company, Blue Bottle Coffee to name a few and restaurants like Slanted Door, Gott's Roadside and the Market Bar.

Lunch at the Ferry Building on Market day can be a simple sandwich from Acme, a hunk of cheese from Cowgirl or if you're willing to queue up, a delicious porchetta sandwich from Roli Roti or from one of the many food trucks parked outside three times a week.  As we were with the kids, we decided to sit at one of the outdoor picnic tables at Gott's Roadside (formerly Taylor's Refresher) and order some burgers and garlic fries while we waited for the rest of our lunch from the food trucks.  It was a beautiful sunny autumn day, typical California weather, and perfect for our impromptu al fresco lunch.  After lunch, we queued up some more for a much-needed cappuccino at Blue Bottle Coffee.  The line was so long that by the time I got to the front, I needed not just a cappuccino but also an espresso which I had one after the other.  And yes, it was well worth the wait.

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Ferry Building Marketplace

One Ferry Plaza

San Francisco 94111 CA
Telephone: + 1 415 983 8030
*Open daily from about 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. (Check for different opening hours on weekends)
*Farmer's Market and food trucks every Tuesday and Thursday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. or until the food runs out and on Saturdays from 8 a.m to 2 p.m.

CAFE ZINC

On our last morning in Laguna beach we stopped by for a quick breakfast at Cafe Zinc, the other breakfast place on Ocean Avenue, right before the more than four-hour drive back to Las Vegas.  With three locations in Orange County, this place is loved by the locals and is usually always packed for breakfast.  We had been to nearby Cafe Anastasia several times and never to Cafe Zinc as we were initially put off by their no-meat menu (meaning no bacon for breakfast).  On our last day though, we decided to try it and see what the fuss was all about.

The Laguna Beach Cafe Zinc has both a cafe and market adjacent with a separate entry.  The marketplace has a takeaway counter for bread (from La Brea bakery), pastries, coffees and drinks to go plus a large selection of deli items, soups, sandwiches, salads and prepared platters.  The Cafe is self-serve and usually has lines snaking out the door so get ready to queue and then try and snag one of the outdoor tables.  There is a large breakfast and lunch menu and a dinner menu on the evenings when dinner is served.  Although not advertised as a vegetarian place, Cafe Zinc doesn't serve any meat but there are so many dishes to choose from on their extensive menu that the absence of meat wouldn't be missed.

For breakfast, my sister and I shared the Huevos Rancheros, a poached egg over papaya salsa, blackbean chili, smoked Gouda, marinara sauce and a toasted bagel with butter and jam.  She had a creamy cafe mocha and I had a not so great espresso.  All in all an okay breakfast but not as tasty as the one at Cafe Anastasia up the road.  I would give this vegetarian cafe another chance maybe for lunch when there are more interesting choices on the menu.

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Cafe Zinc

Market and Cafe

350 Ocean Avenue
Laguna Beach, CA 92651
Cafe: + 1 949 494 6302
Market: +1 949 494 2791
*Open daily, Market  and Cafe from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.

(Cafe open only till 4:00 p.m. on Mondays and Tuesdays)
*Cafe dinners starting May 2, 2012, Wednesday to Sunday from 5:00 to 9:30 p.m.

ANTONIO'S

I had heard about Antonio's from many friends and read about the many foodies and blogger's memorable meals here plus my mom hasn't stopped raving about Antonio's ever since they opened in Tagaytay several years ago.  Last year when I was home for a week, she really wanted to take me there for lunch but it just didn't work out with my schedule.  This time, it was easier as I was home alone without the children so we planned a Saturday post-breakfast drive up to Tagaytay and a lunch at the famous Antonio's (#11 on this year's Miele guide Asia's Top 20).

Early Saturday morning, I met up with my good friend, T, for a quick coffee and cinnamon roll at the nearby Starbuck's before my mom joined us and the three of us left for Tagaytay, which is over an hour's drive south from Makati using the speedy Skyway.  On the drive up, we chatted non-stop about life and everything else and before we knew it, we were up in Tagaytay overlooking the picturesque lake and Taal volcano.  We drove a bit further up the main road until we saw a white sign to turn right into a small side road that led us to the wooden gates of Antonio's garden restaurant.  We were left at the driveway where we were greeted by lovely wooden doors that opened up into an open-air foyer  where the walls were filled with black and white photos and the floor covered in antique black and white patterned tiles.

Down the stairs we went through the outdoor garden area where there are a few tables and into the small indoor dining area which was almost full.  We were seated at one of the tables overlooking the large terrace below where larger communal-style tables (for 8-12) were already filled with families and groups having their lunch.

As soon as we sat down, we were given an appetizer menu of several items and we were all set to choose our meal from this smaller menu when they presented us with the another larger menu where a four-course menu of house salad, soup, main course and dessert is offered with the price determined by your choice of main course.  I had already chosen steak tartar from the appetizer list and I was all set to have it even if I was going to end up having four courses instead of three. They also chose the set lunch menu and each ordered a different salad to start along with a bottle of Chilean Caliterra Reserva Carmenere 2010.  While we waited for our appetizers, we were served warm bread rolls and iced water flavored with lemon, cucumber and mint - a nice touch especially on a warm day.

My steak tartar came first and I was surprised at the portion since it was listed as an appetizer but I guess most order this to share.  There was a mound of hand-chopped steak with the usual stuff mixed in (capers, pickles, Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco, onions, raw egg), topped with some baby watercress and served with lots of toasted baguette slices.  It was as delicious as I had heard, perfectly seasoned and slightly spicy, just the way I like it.  My mom and T don't usually eat steak tartar but this version was so good that I managed to convince them both to have a tiny mouthful just to try it.  The cold steak, crunch toast and the velvety Carmenere were perfect together and despite the large portion, I ate it all.

Next came our salads (most of their greens come from their farm located on the property):  my mom's foie gras tempura was an interesting version of alternating slices of apple and foie gras covered in a tempura batter and deep-fried - crunchy on the outside, meltingly rich hot foie gras and crisp sweet apples on the inside.  T's salad was the classic pan-seared foie gras with pear and arugula and mine was the arugula salad with Gorgonzola, glazed walnuts and sweet sun-dried tomatoes.  We were slowing down our meal at this point to enjoy the wine and the slowly emptying dining room.  By the time our soup was served - tomato bisque with a creme fraiche foam - there was just another table lingering over desserts and us still with our main courses and desserts to come.

For our main courses, we each had something different from the many choices on the menu.  My mom chose the rack of lamb, T chose the sea bass and I chose the seafood risotto.  The rack of lamb was a good portion of three chops with jus, thin green beans and tomato risotto.  T's sea bass was on top of crushed potatoes and came with thin green beans and cherry tomatoes.  My seafood risotto was a tomato-based rice with seared scallops, mussels, prawns and salmon - the rice was a bit too soupy to be called a risotto but it was delicious nonetheless.

We had cleared all our main courses so instead of having three desserts, we decided to share two instead: the dark chocolate souffle and the chocolate orange.  As we finished the last of the wine and waited for the souffle, we realized we it was already almost 4:00 p.m.  The dark chocolate souffle was served with a cardamom-flavored creme anglaise which for me was too strong in flavor to complement the warm chocolate.  The mandarin orange which I wrongly assumed would be the traditional orange peels covered in dark chocolate were actually two scoops of mandarin sorbet covered in chocolate.  They were okay but fiddly to eat even if we used our hands as suggested since the chocolate ice cream balls were too big to pop in our mouths in one go.  Espressos ended our gourmet meal.  As we finished our long, leisurely lunch, the staff had started to set up for dinner and we reluctantly gave up our table for the drive back home. Now I know why everyone who's been raves about Antonio's.  I will certainly be back to try their grill and their breakfast on my next Manila visit.

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Antonio's

Barangay Neogan Tagaytay City, Cavite, Philippines
Telephone: +63 46 413 0975 or +63 46 413 1054
Mobile: +63 917 899 2866
Email: antoniosfarm@yahoo.com


Breakfast at Antonio's
*Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m.  No reservations taken except for private events.
Also at the same location below the main restaurant in a casual family setting at more reasonable prices.
Here, an all-day breakfast menu is served along with a simple menu of salads, house specials, grazing plates, pastas, pizzas, crepes and even a kid's menu.


The Grill by Antonio's
*Open 7 days a week for lunch and dinner from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Reservations only on weekdays or private events
Favorite Filipino dishes and grilled items are served here in a casual setting.

BILLS

Our first morning in Sydney and we were up very early from the jet lag as usual.  We had asked about the nearest bills the night before and were told that there was one not far from the hotel in Darlinghurst.  bills is an Australian institution as with the popularity of his cookbooks, Bill Granger, along with the other Australian Donna Hay, have introduced the simple healthy diverse food and lifestyle of Australia to the rest of the world. 

After watching the clock tick to 6:45, we hopped in a cab and arrived slightly earlier than their opening time of 7:30 a.m.  Since they were still setting up, we decided to walk around and admire the Victorian terraced houses around the neighborhood.  After about half an hour, we showed up hungry and still they weren't quite ready but nicely allowed us in with the kids so we could at least have a much-needed coffee.

bills is a bright space on the corner of a quaint residential street with wooden floors and a large communal table in the middle.  The counter was covered with glass-domed cake servers filled with cookies, muffins, meringues and cakes and a large gleaming chrome espresso machine.  A bunch of daisies plopped into a vase was the only decoration aside from all the fresh produce and baked products.

After our first amazing flat whites of the day (what is it about coffee in Australia that makes it soooo delicious?), we were given the simple paper menus with the selection of all-day breakfast items, fresh-baked goods, juices, coffees and drinks.  (There is a separate lunch menu as well with a few breakfast items, sandwiches, salads, soups and pastas). Each of us tried to order something different so we could try from each other's plates.  We had some fresh orange juice to start then the food started coming.  The kids both had the scrambled eggs with sourdough toast and a side order of sausage.  They were creamy (no wonder as the recipe is equal amounts of organic eggs and full fat cream cooked slowly over a low heat) and perfect scrunched on top of the crisp buttered sourdough toast with the chipolatas.  A chose the soft-boiled eggs with buttered sourdough soldiers - again, simple orangey-yolk organic eggs cooked to perfection and just right for dipping those toast soldiers in.  Y had the famous ricotta hot cakes with fresh banana and honeycomb butter - soft, fluffy hot cakes filled with powdered sugar and drizzled with warm maple syrup.  I chose the equally famous sweet corn fritters with roast tomato, spinach and bacon - more of a brunch rather than breakfast dish - the fritters were crisp and sweet and filled with corn and the bacon and tomato were a great accompaniment to the fritters.  We were still feeling a bit peckish after that, so more sourdough toast was ordered which came with their homemade jam and we also shared a bowl of the most delicious five-grain porridge with stewed fruit and just a few spoonfuls of brown sugar  and cold milk swirled into the hot porridge.  Another creamy flat white and it was still only 9:00 a.m. so we lingered a bit and spoke with one of the staff and ended up buying bills new cookbook (I already have two of them) - Everyday Asian.  (Although I know it'll be difficult to duplicate the exact flavors because I don't have access to the same quality of organic produce here in Bali that is available in Australia, it's still good to try.)

Since nothing was open yet, we followed our waiter's suggestion and walked the long way back to our hotel via Victoria street with it's Victorian houses then at the end of the road, we took the steep stairs down to the wharf at Woolloomooloo where we saw the preserved docks transformed into a hotel with a fantastic wooden deck running alongside the docks.  From there, we walked up another quaint residential area on Bourke street then up towards Hyde park to our hotel.  All in all about an hour's walk and just right after our big breakfast.  Unfortunately, that's all we had time for in Sydney as we left that afternoon for Indonesia.  Between dinner at Spice I Am and breakfast at bills, we had a real taste of the diverse cuisines and delicious food that Sydney (as well as Melbourne) is known for.

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bills (the original one)
433 Liverpool Street
Darlinghurst, Sydney
Telephone: +61 2 9360 9631
*Open for breakfast and lunch Mondays to Saturdays 7:30-3:00, and Sundays from 8:30-3:00
*Newer locations in Woolhara and Surry Hills in Sydney and three more in Japan.

CLEAR CAFE

On one of those clear, sunny days Bali is known for, a friend and I drove up to Ubud for the day to see a  few of my favorite shops - a tiny roadside spot in Batubulan where handmade quilted bed covers and pillow covers are displayed, Marcello and Michi at Gaya Ceramics for beautiful, one-of-a-kind ceramics and finally my most recent discovery, block-printed batik fabrics from Katherine Rally.  T bought several bed covers and some pillow covers as well while I stuck to my list and ordered fabric for some new chairs we had ordered from Seminyak-based Stephane Sensey.  By the time we were finished at Katherine Rally, we were ready for some lunch.  I was planning to try the newly-opened Vietnamese restaurant Saigon Saveurs until I asked Kathy for her suggestion and she said that a new cafe had just opened on Jalan Hanoman that was quite fun so we went there instead.

Clear Cafe is a small modern restaurant that's easy to miss as the entrance is set further back from the main road by a widely-spaced planted bamboo fence.  Through the bamboo fronds, one sees a large, wide-open wooden door with a few steps leading up to it filled with all sorts of shoes, sandals and flip-flops.  We left our chunky espadrilles at the door and headed into a modern, light-filled space with several tables lining each side and a large communal table in the center.  Further in the back past a little lotus pond are several more booths and a bale where a group can sit on the ground and have a pseudo-picnic served to them.

The place was surprisingly packed with mostly expats and tourists who were all happily tucking into their food.  The menu at Clear Cafe is quite extensive - lots of special fruit juices and smoothies with their ingredients clearly listed along with their effects and a varied organic menu with lots of vegan and vegetarian options along with other healthy dishes.

We both chose a fruit drink - the fresh mango juice mangga mile for me (supposedly good for expecting mothers and babies, neither of which I am) and the more exotic twilight tonic of nutrient-rich turmeric, honey, lemon and sea salt for T.  Her drink came in a ceramic tumbler and was cold and surprisingly refreshing with the hint of turmeric and sea salt really bringing out the citrus flavor.

T had the one Kathy recommended - dragon bowl which is a large bowl of red rice topped with marinated grilled fish (or tofu) and stir-fried bean sprouts carrots and onions.  I had the more traditional golden temple curry of assorted vegetables (zucchini, carrots, cauliflower, broccoli) in yellow curry-flavored coconut cream which came with saffron rice.  The food was quite tasty and the portions were large.  If we weren't stuffed, we would have tried one of their kombuchas (detoxifying Russian tea concoctions) or tried one of their fresh-dairy milk lattes.  And with that, we headed back down south to Sanur satisfied with our Ubud excursion of shopping and lunch.

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Clear Cafe 

Jalan Hanoman No. 8 
Padang Tegal Kaje 

Ubud, Bali
Telephone: +62 361 889 4437

*Open all-day every day for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

LE SEVERO

Our last dinner in Paris was at a restaurant in the quiet 14th arrondissement that has been getting good reviews ever since it opened a few years ago.  We tried to go on our last trip to Paris in January but ended up canceling because we were too cold and lazy to travel all the way to this quiet area of Paris on a winter's night.

Le Severo is a tiny bistro complete with the zinc topped bar right smack in the middle of the room and the typique blackboard menu except that here the blackboard is large enough to cover one whole wall and is actually the wine list rather than the menu.  The wine list is pretty impressive with fifth-growth Bordeaux and excellent Burgundies on the long list plus lots of very, good wines at reasonable prices.

The menu is limited with a few starters  - white asparagus, goat's cheese salad, jamon Iberico (again) and boudin noir (blood sausage).  Don't come here if you're not a meat-lover because this place is all about steak, some sausages and veal liver. Owned by ex-butcher William Bernet who serves only Limousin beef, he is also the bartender/server/sommelier and manages to move around the packed restaurant taking orders and serving plates plus clearing tables with impressive speed and efficiency.  The only other person working at the restaurant is the white-jacketed chef who stays quietly behind the bar/kitchen searing the steaks and preparing the starters while also managing to fill the dishwasher with dirty dishes and stack the clean plates neatly on a shelf.  It's a multi-tasking two-man show and probably what makes this little place homey.

Conveniently located on a corner with two large windows, less than a dozen tables are lined on all sides plus a few in the middle which seat a total of about 28 diners in a box-like space. Tables are set simply with a linen napkin and a fork and steak knife etched with 927 (not Laguiole), plates are plain white and glasses aren't fancy. (Watch out when you use the knife as both sides look exactly the same and may end up slicing the meat using the dull side).

Our starters arrived: in season white asparagus with a chive vinaigrette (€10) and a large hunk of fresh Chevre (creamy goat's cheese) with a green salad (€8) and a basket of sourdough bread were placed in the center of the table to share.  The wine we chose was a Catherine et Pierre Breton Chinon 2006, a red wine from the Loire for a reasonable €34.  We were surprised to find out that not only was organic but that it wasn't the only organic one on the long wine list. (This trip's biologique theme continues.)

Having heard so much about the steak tartare (€18) my mind was made up while my mom decided on the classic bistro steak dish - bavette à l'échalote (€18).  My mom wanted to order hers medium-well but I convinced her to have it saignant (medium-rare) instead.  By the time our main courses were served, the place was packed and we were now elbow-to-elbow with a Greek family to our left, a group of four English-speaking suits right behind us and a French family to our right.  The place was now well and truly packed and leaving the table at that minute would have been almost impossible to do.

Our steaks arrived - my mom's bavette (flap steak from the sirloin) perfectly seared and came with lots of shallots.  My steak tartare was the largest I had ever been served in my life.  I guessed it was almost half a kilo and when we asked we were told it was 350 grams (close guess).  The tartare was hand-chopped and came with capers and was very good but not as spicy as I'm used to so I asked for some Tabasco and the pepper grinder to adjust the seasoning and give it that extra kick it was missing. Both came with fresh-cut homemade fries which were seasoned perfectly.  Although not as crisp as I prefer, they were very good and a nice change from the frozen fries usually served in bistros nowadays.  We tasted each other's plate and I prodded my mom to try my tartare although she wasn't all that sure about eating a plate of raw meat.  We tried our best to clean our plates but after eating two thirds of my steak, I just couldn't eat any more meat.

To end the dinner there was fromage -  Saint Nectaire fand a limited dessert menu of chocolate mousse, creme brulee and fraises gariguette.  After all that meat, we decided to share the bowl of fraises gariguette (€6) - small strawberries from Southwest France which were very sweet.  Illy espressos to end our meal and a promise to come back and have the faux-filet or the côte de bœuf (for two) or maybe even the andouillete on our next visit.

Le Severo is a convivial bistro devoted to meat and is the type of place where one ends up conversing with the diners at the next table (as we did) since the place is quite cramped and noisy.  Don't expect fancy sauces or sides - here it's the meat that's the star and most, if not all dishes are served only with fries or mashed potatoes.   Go for a simple steak meal and enjoy it with a good bottle of wine. 

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Le Severo

8 rue des Plantes, 75014 Paris

Tel. +33 1 45 40 40 91

Open for lunch and dinner, Mondays to Fridays

Open for lunch only on Saturdays

Closed Saturday dinner, Sundays and the whole month of August.

ROSE BAKERY 2

Thursday was supposed to be our shopping day and initially, all we had scheduled was lunch with Tonger at his favorite foie gras place in Paris. Plans were changed at the last minute on Wednesday though since my son called to let us know that he had his last football game of the season (and the chance to be champions of the little league) on Saturday morning so we changed our return flights to Friday making Thursday our last (hectic) day in Paris.

We ended up meeting another good friend, Daria, for breakfast at the new Rose Bakery in the Marais a block away from her new apartment.  We turned up at half past ten in front of what seemed to be a little grocery shop with no sign outside.  The restaurant/deli was completely empty except for the seemingly foreign-student servers setting up for lunch.  While we were waiting for Daria, my mom ordered a cappuccino and a scone with butter and jam.  I wasn't sure what to have since they were offering only the cakes on display and I didn't really feel like starting my morning with their famous carrot cake, delicious though it may be.

When Daria arrived and we had hugged and said our hellos and finally settled into our table by the front door, she somehow managed to convince the servers to rustle up some eggs for us: oeufs brouille and an omelet nature.  She had a Rooibos (South African red tea) and I ordered an organic coffee bean espresso and we caught up on each other's new since we last saw each other in January.  Service is definitely unobtrusive (they pretty much left us alone) to chat away until our food was served.  The plain omelet was baveuse (runny) and came with a small green salad and the scrambled eggs were creamy and delicious, something that looks so easy but so hard to get right.  No toast was available which was a pity as some bread would have been perfect with the eggs.

Funnily enough, although Rose Bakery is open for all day for breakfast, there really isn't a proper breakfast menu.  You'll just have to choose whatever is on display - cakes, scones, muffins etc.  There is, however, a limited lunch menu of dishes available EVERYDAY (vegetable plate,  salad and tarte/quiche or pizzete and an omelette du jour), daily changing specials labelled TODAY (gazpacho, asparagus risotto, beef carpaccio bruschetta, chicken and sweet potato curry and tofu and Shiitake mushrooms) plus DESSERTS (fromage anglais et chutney, riz au lait, crumble du jour, fruit compote and pastries).  There are also large platters of different salads on the counter available for takeaway.   The drinks menu has fruit smoothies and fresh juices aside from the assorted leaf teas and bio-café. Watch out though for the tiny print as food eaten in the restaurant is charged a 50% premium on the displayed takeaway price.  Total bill for our deliciously simple breakfast was  €25.

Rose Bakery is basically a delicatessen/takeaway counter/restaurant serving food often made with organic ingredients which seems to be popular in Paris at the moment proving that, aside from all the Jamon Iberico on offer I saw in many restaurant menus on this trip, biologique, c'est chic.

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Rose Bakery 2

30, rue Debelleyme (on rue de Bretagne) 75003, Paris

Tel: +33 1 49 96 54 01

* No sign so watch out for the unobtrusive metal and glass-fronted entrance

* No reservations taken so get there early to snag one of the few tables.

MORRISONS in Gibrltar

I sit on my terrace and enjoy the view of the Mediterranean with the rock of Gibraltar looming in the distance and used to wonder what it was like. After three years here, we'd finally made it to the famous limestone promontory on a Sunday a few weeks back just to have a look. On that day we crossed the border quickly, parked the car and stopped at a nondescript pub for a quick lunch then walked some more until we reached the large square at the end of main street where more restaurants and cafes were situated. We didn't have time to explore more and see the sights.

This time, our short trip to Gibraltar was all about heading to Morrisons and seeing for ourselves what i was like. The supermarket is quite large with a cafe and a petrol station (where it's supposedly 30% cheaper to fill up than in Spain). I had low expectations because of mixed reviews about Morrisons since most said that it was the same as shopping in the local supermarkets Hipercor and Supersol. I have to disagree. It isn't the same, it's way better and with the current favorable exchange making the Pound almost equal to the Euro, it's cheaper too.

Why is it better? Well, there's definitely more variety - fruits and vegetables (e.g young corn, sugar snap peas, fresh green chilies), fresh-baked bread (e.g. whole wheat buns and granary loaf), organic baby products (e.g. Hipp baby food, organic rusks), healthy lunchbox snacks (e.g. mini boxes of raisins and dried apricots), a fantastic assortment of ready meals (e.g. New Covent Garden Food Co. soups), crisps & chips (e.g. Kettle Chips, pretzels) and lots of English magazines and books at half the price. I've always been a bit skeptical about those who would cross over regularly to do their shopping in Gibraltar but now I see that I might have to do the same at least once every six weeks. In the end, it's only half an hour away (closer than Malaga) and with the range of food available plus the reasonable prices then it makes it worth the trip.

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Morrisons

Westside road, Gibraltar

Open daily:

Mondays to Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., Sundays from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.

* Check online as opening hours change on certain holidays