The Fern, Redfern

The Fern is a cute little terrace-renovated-into-a-cafe located at 4 Pitt St, Redfern, which is one of the side streets just off Cleveland St.

We went by car on a Sunday so it was easy to find free all day street parking on the street, however if it’s a nice day it would be quite lovely to walk from Redfern or Central Station (and there are also heaps of buses that travel up Cleveland St!)

As you can see, the Fern is a terrace house which has been made into a cafe.

They had their menu displayed outside on a blackboard for those sitting in the courtyard area. However, as it was quite windy that day, we chose to sit inside

The interior is very homely and retro at the same time, with a large communal table in the middle and a few smaller tables to the side.

They also had a cute booth area towards the back which was perfect for 4 people per booth (unfortunately for us…they were all taken when we arrived!).  I didn’t explore the upstairs area so who knows what’s there!

The bar / barista area has to be centrepiece of The Fern because it’s right there when you walk in! The Fern is also open at night on Thurs – Sat when it turn into “Night Fern” which is a latin fusion bar, serving tapas and cocktails.

There was definitely a Latino feel to the place, starting from all the wall decorations…

The menus came in old vinyl record covers which I thought was quite unique.

The menu isn’t too extensive, and definitely had a Latino / Mexican feel to it again. It was good to see that “breakfast” was served all day! Click here to see the menu on their website (although I cannot guarantee how current the menu is!).

So we all ordered a cup of coffee each (excuse the lack of photos…we were too busy chatting and sipping our coffees…I totally forgot to take photos!)

Then our meals arrived! Two of us got burgers and two of us got the more “breakfast-y” dishes.

The “Dingo Ate My Burger” – the waiter was nice enough to allow the goat’s cheese to be swapped to cheddar (thanks!)

The Eggs Rancheros – the baked beans were the highlight!

The Hangover Cure 2 – a crazy concoction of various different things from smoked speck to hash browns (although initially it just looks like a massive salad…;P)

The Nacho Libre – yum yum yum loved the sour cream and avocado – it went really well with the beef patty (and the Tabasco! which you can grab from the table underneath the stairs).

Overall, we thought the food was pretty awesome! However, I wouldn’t really say that it was excellent value because a lot of the main items were all around the $16-19 range, which could be seen a tad pricey for a burger (although prices in Sydney are not “low” in the first place). But we were satisfied!

Would I go back? Well I have to say that we were a bit disappointed with the service – the waitress there wasn’t too friendly when we were there and when she was serving me my coffee she spilt some onto the serving plate & table which then the other waiter had to replace and apologise for. But I would like to think that she was just having a bad day (but then I guess it may explain the 65% rating on Urbanspoon..who knows). I might come back one day to try the churros!

D xx

Blog update 111212

Hello all

Apologies for the lack of blog posts lately! Since it’s been leading up to Christmas and the New Year I have been busy organising things and getting things ready for the new year

I also have a small getaway planned in 2 weeks time but I will try my best to upload a few more blog posts before of the end of the year

Some of the upcoming posts will include:

• The Fern, Redfern
• Finders Keepers Markets
• Various beauty products

I have been obsessing over wine lately as well so I may just have some wine-related posts as well!

I will once again leave you with a quote (this time from my favourite poem, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by T.S. Eliot).

D xx

The Stuffed Beaver, Bondi

I love hot chips. I love them so much that my love for them cannot be expressed in words (hehe). When I used to live in the Netherlands I used to eat them all the time with mayonnaise because they sold them everywhere in these stalls on the street!! (borderline addiction for sure)

So when I first heard about this Canadian concoction called “poutine”, which is literally hot chips, topped with gravy and cheese, I just knew I had to try it.

After googling “where to buy poutine in Sydney” I found out that they were sold at “The Stuffed Beaver” in Bondi. So I had to go there. Google told me that they specialised in “Canadian / American” food.

The Stuffed Beaver is located in Bondi (not Bondi Junction), on 271 Bondi Rd. You literally need to drive all the way down Bondi Rd – it’s located near the corner of Bondi Road and Denham St. We arrived in Bondi around 1:15pm and managed to find free 2 hour street parking on the curve where Denham St turns into Fletcher St.

You can easily recognise The Stuffed Beaver as it literally has a beaver for its street sign! So cute.

Being a weekday lunch, the place was completely empty when we arrived. I have a feeling that it’s mostly a watering hole / bar so probably much more popular in the evening / night.

(Excuse my little brother’s guest appearance in the photo! He had just finished exams at school so I was treating him to some greasy food hehe).

The place also has booth seating which I love! I think it provides more privacy They were also playing NFL on the TV lol.

Anyways, so we sat down in one of the two seater booths. The waitress came to see what drinks we wanted. She was really friendly (and American…I think) and reminded me of Katy Perry hehe. After ordering a diet coke for myself, I browsed the menu to look for what I had come here for. The POUTINE!  The menu itself was super cute with cartoon speech bubbles split up into the different types of food on offer. There were a number of burgers, hot dogs, nachos, fries, wings, tacos….so American!! (excuse the stereotype).

We found the poutine in the “pommes frites” section  We also ordered the Happy Trevor pork sandwich and also the “frickles” (which I had been told was what they kept eating on Jersey Shore…I wouldn’t know…haha).

I also really liked the table setting with cool rum bottle like water bottles, cute lamp and…ketchup & mustard!! A must have in an American / Canadian meal.

 

So, the poutine ($14.99) came out first. I literally saw it in front of my eyes and thought I was in heaven!! And it had been freshly made so the chips were super crispy and the gravy was hot and the cheese was melting into the gravy…. mmmm…. I thought it was really yummy..but then I’m biased because usually I go gaga over anything with fries.

However, a friend of mine that used to live in Canada told me that the “real” poutine was much better than the one from The Stuffed Beaver. Hmmm I wouldn’t know since I’ve never been to Canada so I guess this is the best I’ll get here! If you want to make a judgement for yourself you should definitely check out The Stuffed Beaver.

Next came the Happy Trevor pork sandwich ($13)…which wasn’t actually a sandwich lol. And then I remembered that burgers were sometimes referred to as “sandwiches” in America…(not sure why…can anyone explain?). It was a small burger (maybe the size of my two fists put together?) and it was filled with purple coleslaw and pulled pork. It was really yummy. The creamy yet crunchy coleslaw went really well with the pulled pork and the brioche bun.

Then out came the frickles ($6). Frickles are literally “fr(ied) (p)ickles”. This was a concept totally new to me so I was excited to try it. So I dipped it in the ranch sauce and bit into the frickle. It was a strange feeling at first because you have the super crispy beer batter shell and then….a pickle?! I think the two went well together because the greasiness of the fried batter was then counteracted by the pickle.

So this was our meal all together.  As you can see the poutine is quite massive…we couldn’t finish it!

So overall we had a really good experience at The Stuffed Beaver. I felt like I was in Canada/America during the time I was there hehe. Would I go back? Yes, if I can’t figure out a way to make awesome poutine at home…then I guess I’ll have to go back! (plus I really want to try the “Celine Diog” lol!).

D xx