bondi pizza @ top ryde shopping centre

For the third time in just as many weeks, we find ourselves at the newly opened Bondi Pizza at Top Ryde Shopping Centre. We took one of our friends here when they were visiting from overseas, then my brother came back from HK and picked this place and before you know it, it was my B.I.Ls birthday and he also picked this place to celebrate. Seems like everyone is keen to give this place a go.

So having been three times, you do get to see the appeal of this place. All of the menu items are designed to share, plenty of seating for both big and small groups, the restaurant itself is neatly decked out without being over the top, meals are quick to get to the table and the service is consistent. As for the food, there's a mecca of items to bring you back and so far, all the items we've tasted have failed to disappoint.

Our side of wedges and meatballs. Still haven't quite worked out what that brown sauce is that they serve with the meatballs (I eat it anyway, as I do).

Our choice of pizzas: Chorizo and Prawn plus the Sicilian.

One will note that they've gone down the route of serving the food on the wooden boards which is very hipster in my eyes but often not very functional when you start to see the boards split from overuse and overwashing. When seated at a table of 4, you really need to eat your sides/starters first otherwise there's no way you can fit more than 4 of these boards on the table along with the cutlery and plates.

If you don't manage to finish your meal, you can get it takeaway boxes to take home though to be honest, the pizzas (being on a thin crust) dried out in the fridge very quickly and didn't look too appealing to eat the next day. Best to finish it off there when you eat in.

I'm guessing there's a high chance we'll be back here soon for our next event!

marion grasby's sesame tuna with ponzu

Weeknight dinners tend to be simple affairs in our household; often we cook enough to last more than one meal and things like spaghetti bolognese, baked chicken wings and fried rice are those staples we constantly have on rotation. Recently, my aunty introduced my mum to frozen salmon and tuna fillets at the supermarket (mum then got me some) and they've been a real treat. Take them out in the morning to defrost in the fridge and they're ready by the time you need to cook at night. So when I flicked through Marion Grasby's 'Asia Express' and saw the recipe for Sesame Tuna with Ponzu, I knew I was going to make this one soon.

With the defrosted tuna pieces, sprinke with salt and coat in sesame seeds. I only had white sesame seeds but Marion recommends a blend of black and white in her recipe. Heat oil in a pan and cook the tuna for about 2 minutes each side.

Marion's recipe for ponzu sauce is a combo of 1 finely sliced spring onion, 2 tbsp soy sauce, 1 tbsp rice vinegar, grated zest of 1 lemon,  2tbsp lemon juice, 1 tbsp honey, 1 tsp wasabi paste and 1 tsp freshly grated ginger all whisked together.

Here's how the tuna looks in the book if you have the black sesame seeds. I though the white sesame seeds already gave it plenty of flavour.

We had our tuna steaks with rice and it's actually a very filling meal. Admittedly frozen tuna steaks aren't as great as fresh ones but if you happen to be in the supermarket, do grab a bag of the frozen salmon steaks. You can hardly tell the difference with the salmon.

Anyhow, our rangehood in the kitchen decided to explode over the weekend so this might be a mini break from any cooking posts for the moment until we get that fixed.  Though truth be told, I would've been more sad had our oven broken down as I wouldn't be able to do any baking!

big tree house cafe @ calder rd., rydalmere

So I'm starting to catch up on my blog but at the same time catching up on all the other food blogs that are out there. So much has changed in the space of the year - there are so many food blogs! Sadly a lot of my favourites are either no longer blogging or are only blogging intermittently but then a lot more blogs are morphing into lifestyle blogs which every now and then I toy with the idea of (yes I'm very tempted but we'll see). Excitingly, I also hand the baton over to two of my younger cousins (bunnybloggers - bunnybloggers.com and friedfoodfanatic - friedfoodfanatic.blogspot.com.au) who have started their own respective food blogs and who on a rare mid week which I had off work, I caught up with to check out Big Tree House Cafe in Rydalmere.

In a most unsuspecting location (nestled in amongst residential), Big Tree House Cafe joins the wave of hipster type cafes which seem to be popping up. When I say hipster, I refer to the meals served on chopping boards, milkshakes served in old fashioned milk bottles and the menu, of course, must have a pulled pork burger. This hipster trend can be a bit of a hit and miss but I think Big Tree House Cafe are doing a reasonably good job (this was actually my second visit and there's still items on the menu which are bringing me back).

What did I say - here's my chocolate milkshake in its signature milk bottle.

My choice of the pulled pork burger with fried potatoes.

My younger cousin Chris orders the Baked eggs with toast which is part of their breakfast menu. There's actually a lot more items on their breakfast menu compared to their lunch menu so might be an idea to check them out for breakfast/brunch if you're planning to head here.

The cafe appears to be Korean own/run and serves up the Gangnam style burger - a burger of bulgogi beef on a brioche bun.

The meals aren't overly generous so meant there was room for dessert. Between the three of us we shared this delicious slice of ricotta cake.

And just because - I felt like banana bread which comes served deliciously toasted with a side of whipped cinnamon butter. I've tried to make banana bread so many times at home now and nothing beats banana bread ordered out at a cafe (and of course toasted and with a generous serve of melted butter).

Big Tree House Cafe offers both indoor and outdoor seating (seating available out the front but also out the back). We had a sneak peak of the back as the cafe is meant to have a big tree for climbing (hence the cafe's name) but was a little disappointed to find that the tree wasn't all that big. Ah well - we had a lovely time sitting indoors and having managed to nab a spot out the front, we didn't have to waddle very far after our meal.