See you at The Copper Mill

In recent times I'd gotten a little bored with café breakfasts - unfortunately, eggs are eggs to me. And then a little local café comes along and changes all that.

At The Copper Mill on Mitchell Road in an area some call Alexandria and some call Erskineville, bacon and eggs are most certainly not just bacon and eggs. Most surprising is that the café doesn't really have a proper kitchen, but just a stovetop or two and a benchtop grill.

Cappuccino and watermelon, apple and mint juice from The Copper Mill,
Mitchell Road, Alexandria

With minimal outdoor seating and hipster-fied interiors, The Copper Mill is a spacious little venue that clearly values comfort over crowds.

Decorated with the occasional item of copper cookware, the high ceilings of the space and its well-spaced tables lend it well to relaxed brunching and munching on some Latin-inspired brekky bits.

I still like cappuccinos because of the chocolate powder and foam, giving me the slightest of sugar hits with the Golden Cobra beans on a weekend morning.

Meanwhile, the watermelon and apple juice is freshly juiced and served with ice, mint leaves and a striped paper straw.

Coddled egg with kumera mash, parsley and sourdough soldiers with bacon side

And behold, the breakfast game-changer - for me anyway. Sure, the food took a good while to get to us but the coddled egg in the jar with kumera sweet potato mash has given me faith in breakfast again.

All it took was a glass jar, half-filled with sweet, creamy and surely healthy sweet potato mash and topped with an egg that's then basically steamed in the jar to a firm yolk; the way I prefer it.

Garnished with chopped parsley, the egg is served with wedges of buttered sourdough to which I added a side of bacon. A bit of everything in one mouthful was the way to breakfast heaven.

Peruvian bacon and egg roll 

Classic bacon rashers get dumped for pork belly in the Peruvian take on a bacon and egg roll. Encased in a chewy white roll were seasoned pork belly chicharron, a runny sunny-side-up egg and the same kumera mash; then pimped up with Spanish onion salsa criolla and lemon-flavoured mayonnaise.

A large mouthful to handle, this Peruvian-accented breakfast-in-two-hands was a filling twist on a classic Aussie breakfast that will easily become a signature offering at The Copper Mill.

So perhaps I'll see you at The Copper Mill soon, where breakfast takes a while but where eggs ain't eggs.

Chica Linda: Drink'n'Dine with the hot ladies

The latest restaurant instalment from the enterprising Drink'n'Dine pub group has surprisingly taken oven the tapas and pintxos offering at The Carrington, replacing it with the vibrant Latin American-themed Chica Linda - Spanish for 'hot lady', or 'beautiful girl'.

The bar at Chica Linda, Bourke Street, Surry Hills

Designed to be a casual affair of Latin American-influenced share dishes, Chica Linda opened to the public a last Friday with a riotously colourful makeover of the existing space out the back end of The Carrington, while the front, old-school pub remains with its pub menu and pie floaters.

Chica Linda fitout

The brief menu traverses Latin America and is separated into bites, arepa flatbreads, small and big dishes, family-style share dishes, sides and salads, and of course desserts.

Hot Lady mixed drink

And as ever, the drinks and cocktail list has a healthy dose of Drink'n'Dine fun and creativity, starting with the Hot Lady mixer of tequila, sweet pink guava soda and half a lime on lots of ice. Refreshing and easy to drink, it's a good one to start on.

Caprininha Amazonica cocktail

We managed to sample a fair whack of the cocktail list with the Tenga Huevo Sour featuring plum pisco tasting like Chinese salted, preserved plums.

More fruity and enjoyable was the Caprininha Amazonica with cachaca and pineapple juice, shaken with an aromatic coconut sugar and garnished with a beautifully ripe segment of fresh pineapple.

Burnin Passion shots

If those aren't enough of a booze kick to start, try the vodka, passionfruit and orange "shots" served on fire, in a hollowed out passionfruit half.

Quite the unusual sight not on top of a Zombie cocktail, the Burnin Passion shots are pure novelty with the alcohol-driven flames singing some edges of the passionfruit. Avoid drinking from the burnt bits to get a pretty sweet shot or so, depending on the size and balancing abilities of your passionfruit shell.

Chicarones, guasacaca sauce

With a drink or two under our belts, we were ready to tackle executive chef Jamie Thomas' menu, starting with excellently executed chicarones pork crackling.

Airy, crisp and not oily, these boiled, dried and deep fried pork rinds were served with a very light seasoning, and a sensational green guascaca sauce that was vinegary, garlicky and all sorts of bliss with the puffy chicarones.

Smoked pork arepas, honey chipotle glaze, pickled slaw (front) and grilled cheese arepas, corn salsa and salsa rojo

Formed from ground maize, the dense arepas are offered with a choice of fillings sandwiched between the split yellow discs.

While the smoked pork variety with a hunk of glazed meat and joyously contrasting red cabbage slaw and green sauce looked a treat, I went with the grilled cheese option which had a hunk of grilled haloumi cheese and a delightful salsa of corn, black beans and capsicum.

Soft shell crab arepas, avocado, hot sauce

Sure to be a crowd favourite is the soft shell crab arepa, with a lightly battered and fried portion of crab underlaid with mashed avocado and dressed with fresh coriander, julienned jicama and chilli.

Flamed longaniza, aji chilli, pineapple

From the smalls menu we had the coiled and skewered longaniza sausage, garnished with a chilli and pineapple salsa.

The satisfyingly coarse, porky sausage filling was a highlight with sweet, spiced flavours bursting from within the smoky char of its flame-grill treatment. Along with the ripe pineapple dice of the salsa, it was sausage heaven.

King crab diablo, spicy paprika sauce

We moved on to what I thought was the piece de resistance of the meal: the share-sized King crab legs tossed in a spicy paprika sauce, with lots of lime and coriander.

With the Drink'n'Dine group's messy and lovable House of Crabs probably going through tonnes of seafood a day, it's nice to see the crustacean love shared among venues.

King crab diablo

I found the sauce only mildly spicy and not overpowering the crab meat, although there are bottled hot sauces at the table for those who like it more fiery.

The crab legs were best accessed with scissors and the claws with crackers, with sweet, juicy crab flesh in abundance in both. Not as messy as a HOC affair, finger bowls and plenty of napkins come still come in handy.

Achiote smoked chicken, tomatillo salsa

Another family style plate, the cuts of achiote smoked chicken were as comforting as they looked, served with another fabulous accompanying salsa.

The chicken had a deep smoky flavour and that firm texture of smoked meat, and was particularly homely when eaten with a side of the soft Coca-Cola rice and beans.

Puerto Rican roast pork, salsa criolla

Another crowd favourite of the shared plates was the roast pork, served in thick slices with crackling and the corn salsa. Superbly spiced and juicily cooked, the tender pork tipped me over the edge on the main dishes.

Green and red tomato, jicama, aji chilli, chia seeds, queso

With the meaty mains I was glad to see the green and red tomato salad; a lively mix of colourful, ripe tomatoes, jicama sticks and grated queso cheese in a herbaceous dressing.

Quinoa, barley, pomegranate, orange, labne

The grain salad was about as on-trend as it gets, combining quinoa with barley, sweetened with orange segments and fresh pomegranate. The creamy labne yoghurt cheese brought some richness to a very healthy side salad.

Two colour fries

Eschewing the common potato, Chica Linda's two-colour fries comprise some long, very uniform sticks of deep fried sweet potato and cassava or yuca; the latter making for a firm, slightly starchier chip. It was nonetheless moreish with a spiced mayonnaise for dipping.

Black Naga cocktail

Thoroughly sated and impressed with our flash-tour of Latin America, we couldn't get away without dessert.

There are a couple of cocktails that could be matched to dessert, including the dark Black Naga of Herradura Anejo tequila, chocolate bitters, brown sugar and a curious garnish of cucumber, served on the rocks. The dark chocolate flavour really came through, setting off the chocolate dessert well.

Chocolate milke cake, mashmallow, buttermilk ice cream, passionfruit

The rather complicated chocolate milk cake comprised a mousse and cake crumb, baked together forming a separated yet combined texture of the two, with a very mild chocolate hit. Easier to love was the fluffy marshmallow topping with passionfruit seeds and the refreshing buttermilk ice cream.

Guava empanada, apple, dulce de leche ice cream, fried plantain

For sweet-savoury lovers, it's hard to beat the fabulous puff pastry empanada, encasing a soft, sensual diced apple and guava filling.

With just the right amount of spice and sweetness (just as comforting as the apple pie from a particular global fast food chain), the empanada was finished with a caramelly dulce de leche ice cream and lightly fried, crisp plantain shavings.

Chica Linda fitout

After a very well balanced meal thanks to the chef's choices, any sadness over the loss of pintxos and tapas from The Carrington were mostly erased. Chica Linda's nightly dinner and weekend breakfast and lunch offering looks to be capitalising on the Latin American food trend which is gaining plenty of traction this year.

And unlike most hot ladies, Chica Linda is fun, approachable and not in the least pretentious - check her out.

Food, Booze & Shoes dined as a guest of Chica Linda and Drink'n'Dine.

Bodega: It’s been too long between drinks

My first visit to Bodega was approximately 7.5 years ago in 2006 when the Argentinian tapas bar first sprouted up on Commonwealth Street, Surry Hills, just down from my former drinking hole corner pub.

Indeed, it was my work farewell lunch and for most, our first taste of tapas that wasn't strictly Spanish. I remember being a little confused with lunch – or perhaps that was just my impending unemployment.

Drinks at Bodega, Commonwealth Street, Surry Hills

In any case, it's taken me way too long to get back to Bodega. During that time they've expanded into the next door shop, gained a cult status among food-lovers and rockabillies alike, spawned a wildly successful sister restaurant in Porteño, and scored one hat in the latest Good Food Guide.

I had some catching up to do so walked in on a recent Friday night to the best seats in the house: at the kitchen counter overlooking the chefs at work, including on this night owner Elvis Abrahanowicz while his wife and maitre d', the inimitable Sarah Doyle, was also on the floor.

We started with the crisp bubbles of Cruzat Clasico and the Spanish Ambar 1900 Pale Ale while perusing the brief menu which sings and dances with creativity.

Tinned white anchovies, fish pate & water crackers

I'm slowly coming around to anchovies, especially when they're excellent specimens like the tin from Bodega on their tapas menu: lightly pickled in vinegar Spanish style and not particularly salty.

Served on rulers of house made crackers, the anchovies were almost as delectable as the airy fish pate which, strange as it sounds, was sensational. With restrained fishy, savoury and creamy flavours spread on a cracker, I'm not sure I've ever had the pleasure of anything quite like Bodega's fish pate.

Empanada filled with provolone

Empanadas, and their dumpling-like derivatives, seem to be hot around town at the moment. Bodega's provolone-filled parcel of deep fried goodness didn't disappoint with its stringy cheese innards, although it lacked a sauce or salsa on the side.

School prawns with curry mayonnaise

One of the evening's specials, the whole fried school prawns arrived as a generous pile, garnished with sliced shallots and a huge dollop of curry-hued mayonnaise; the latter of which is a genius flavour combination.

The prawns were wonderfully crisp, a few black heads aside, and were great drinking snacks that disappeared in a hurry.

Dutch carrots, fried cauliflower, smoked labna, tahini & currants

It would seem that standalone carrot dishes are making their mark on Sydney, with Bodega's featuring soft portions of the orange root vegetables with deep fried cauliflower florets, smoky labna yoghurt and sweet currants in a pool of a mild tahini sesame paste.

I had wanted the carrot dish to be a bit like a side dish to the protein main we had ordered, although it was quite a while between dishes and so the carrots were devoured on their sweet lonesome.

Corn tamale, fontina cheese, mole roja with chicken

Emerging from the oven wrapped in a leaf, the tamale of smooth masa corn meal was filled with mild fontina cheese, fresh corn from the cob and tender chicken smothered in a complex mole sauce.

With a liberal coriander garnish and fresh lemon on the side, the corn tamale was a fresh, filling package covering all the major food groups – carbs, dairy, vegetable and protein – and ideal for sharing between two.

Crispy duck, scallops, chocolate mole, Old Bay apple

Our final dish was the duck main, served with scallops in an chocolate mole sauce. I'd never thought I would have scallops with chocolate, though the sauce was better with the rich, crisp-skin duck pieces.

The paper-thin rounds of apple were the only part that didn’t seem to work – while they added a refreshing tartness to the duck and sauce, the Old Bay seasoning on each slice was just way too salty to enjoy.

We had forgotten to leave space and time for dessert on this occasion, and with a queue out the door, we didn't linger too long. But at least I've got Bodega's renowned dessert offerings, among other delicious reasons, to make sure it’s not 7.5 years between meals and drinks at Bodega again.

Colombian beer Aguila launches in Australia

It's not hard to get a party started when you're offering free beer. But when it comes to what's known as Colombia's celebration beer, Aguila, launching on the Australian scene, you know it's going to be one hell of a party.

Aguila beer launch party, The Paramount Building, Brisbane Street, Surry Hills

Spanish for 'eagle' and pronounced “Ahh – gee laa”, Aguila has become available in Australia for the first time through select bars (including Opera Bar in Sydney) and other on premise venues.

The Aguila launch party crowd

Aguila has been a part of the Colombian landscape and culture for 100 years, having being first brewed in Barranquilla, Colombia in 1913.

It has a reputation for being the celebration beer in Colombia, and with its primary-coloured label (like the Colombian flag), it makes for a great party drink and decorative theme.

Aguila beer bottles

I found Aguila to be quite a light, easy-drinking beer that's not heavy on flavour. It's made using Perle and Nugget hop varieties, pale malt and rice, and has a 4.0% alcohol by volume content, making it a pretty good party beer.

Aguila beer bar

For the Sydney launch party, the rejuvenated Paramount Building in Surry Hills (opposite Longrain) was decked out in Colombian party spirit with a live Colombian band and dancers, a yellow confetti party zone, a lively and happy-to-drink-on-a-Sunday-night hospitality and media crowd, and of course, loads of Aguila beers by the bottle.

The confetti party area

Chelsea the miniature donkey outside The Paramount Building

There was even a miniature donkey named Chelsea out the front, welcoming party guests with her somewhat nervous stance and bashful fringe.

Cerveza Aguila cart

Empanadas

And responsible service calls for beer-soaking snacks, deliciously on-theme and circulating the room. There were golden-hued, hot-centred empanadas with a cornmeal casing, served with zingy and fresh salsas and chilli sauces.

Arepas

Arepas, thick discs also made of cornmeal, came with a DIY combination of toppings including Sydney's ubiquitous pulled pork, a chilli salsa, guacamole and untraditional sour cream that was so tasty in combination that noone was screaming "TexMex" in horror.

Palitos de queso - cheese sticks

Strangely enough, the battered and deep fried white cheese sticks also came with the same topping options. I love the idea of a fried stick of cheese and after a few Aguila beers*, topping the cheese sticks with salsa, guacamole and even pulled pork didn't seem like a bad idea.

The Aguila beer launch party

With Aguila coming to Australia just in time for warmer weather and party season, it's time to vive la vida Colombiana - live life Colombian!

*Food, booze and shoes supports the responsible consumption of alcohol at all times. Eat, drink and enjoy - responsibly!

Food, booze and shoes attended the Aguila launch party and received samples with thanks to Liquid Ideas.

Pachamama House: A taste of Peru in Surry Hills

It doesn’t get much more exotic than Peruvian cuisine in Sydney, especially when my knowledge of the South American cuisine extends only to pisco sours and everyone's favourite super-grain, quinoa.

Inside Pachamama House, Goulburn Street, Surry Hills

Pachamama House is a relative newcomer to the Surry Hills area, filling the space below an apartment block on the corner of Goulburn and Riley Streets.

Spaces under apartments like this are often a design challenge but restaurant owner Tony Maia has done an amazing job injecting warmth and a genuine atmosphere into the just-above-street-level venue.

Exterior of Pachamama House

Pachamama House is not exclusively Peruvian, which itself is a fusion of cuisines. Executive chef Danny Parreno (ex La Bodeguita del Medio, as is Maia) is of Peruvian heritage and weaves his magic in the kitchen with modern Australian sensibility and hints of Japanese.

He's almost like an alter-universe Nobu Matsuhisa who, alternatively, incorporates Peruvian influences into his high-end, global chain of Nobu Japanese restaurants.

Adega de Monaco wine

While pisco sours feature on the drinks menu, I skipped the cocktails as I couldn't resist a category of wine labelled "green".

Listing a single Portuguese wine, Adega de Monaco, the wine is made of young grapes and has a slight, pleasant effervescence and a greenness to its white wine colouring. It's meant to be served ice cold, done so at Pachamama House with the addition of an ice cube.

Classic cebiche: Snapper, lime, green chilli, coriander and sweet potato chips

On the food Maia recommended that we start with the classic cebiche (ceviche with a different spelling) of snapper.

A great palate starter, the snapper cebiche was extremely zingy with loads of lime just 'cooking' the surface of the white fish flesh while the green chilli had a fair bit of bite. The garnish of sweet potato chips was a great twist on tradition as well as a textural contrast, and we would have loved more.

Tiradito cebiche: Scallops, sesame, spring onions and aji Amarillo dressing

The tiradito cebiche of scallops featured creamy, thin slices of the mollusc and spring onions, both just touched with hot peanut oil in a style typical in Cantonese cuisine. It was perhaps just a little heavy on the oil while the bright yellow-orange, mild aji Amarillo chilli dressing could have with some tartness.

Salchipapas: Smoked frankfurt, roasted potatoes & Huacatay mayonnaise

Next we had a taste of Peruvian street food; thick-cut hunks of a smoky grilled pork frankfurt, served with kipfler potatoes to soak up the flavours and eaten with toothpicks. The sausage was so full of flavour that the Huacatay mayonnaise on the side was barely needed.

Empanadas: Braised pork cheek & Chilean condiment

I have yet to meet an empananda that I don’t like, and the pork cheek filled one at Pachamama House was no different.

Thinly layered, shortcrust-like pastry enveloped soft pulled pork cheek, an array of saucy spices and a segment of hard-boiled egg. The little parcels were served with a Chilean salsa condiment of fresh tomato, coriander and lime – a highlight of the dish.

Pescado Frito: Pan fried sardines, green tomato and jalapeno salsa

Onto the larger, mains type dishes, we started with butterflied sardines coated in a crunchy mix of corn, Spanish oregano and two chilli spices: Chilean merkén and Japanese togarashi.

The small, oily sardine isn’t my fish of choice but I couldn’t help but use them and the sweet tomato segments to mop up all the green jalapeño salsa which was deliciously mild and creamy with a hint of smokiness.

Sticky Duck: Coconut braised duck, crispy rice & chilli jam

The duck dish was probably the fusion frontier at Pachamama House: the combination of betel leaves, rice, coconut cream and chilli jam meant that I could not tear my mind away from the concept of Thai cuisine.

The softly braised duck was a delight atop the crisp-surfaced rice brick, matching well with the chilli jam and only just a little overpowered by the strong flavour of the coconut cream.

Wagyu: Seared wagyu rump, roasted okra & Peruvian bbq sauce

Probably my favourite larger dish of the night was the sliced medium-rare pieces of wagyu beef rump which were laid over softly roasted okra – that polarising green vegetable with sticky, seed-filled innards.

The trick is, as I learnt at Pachamama House, is to roast them with a bit of oil till they’re soft, not quite as sticky anymore and just deliciously earthy.

The house-made Peruvian barbeque sauce with the beef had an awakening chilli kick, elevating the perfectly cooked wagyu rump to something very special.

Zapallito: Zucchini, mint, red radish & lemon dressing

The refreshing, raw salad of zucchini ribbons was a stunner too, including thin rounds of radish, fresh mint leaves and lashings of lemon juice that cut through any fattiness on the menu.

Eschabeche: Chicken, fennel, kipflers & green olives

We were told the Spanish influenced eschabeche sauce can be used as a base for almost any protein; and here it was served with chicken thigh.

Chunks of raw meat are marinated overnight in the acidic vinegar and chilli sauce, then cooked with fennel, kipfler potatoes, green olives and other vegetables as an epic, almost stir fry-like, dish.

Seats at the bar

I was looking forward to dessert, and even more so when Maia matched it with a glass of the 2010 Petaringa Late Harvest Riesling.

Picarones: Sweet potato doughnuts with spiced syrup

The free-formed rings of picarones doughnuts were surprisingly light given they are made of sweet potato. Lightly fried with fluffy innards, they had just the right sweetness from the accompanying spiced syrup and dusting of icing sugar.

Tequila Sorbet, orange cream, baked meringues, cinnamon & caramel popcorn

But they were no match for the tequila sorbet dessert, which triumphed in flavours, textures and appearances. The quenelle of icy tequila sorbet was more citrus than alcoholic while the cinnamon and caramel popcorn was a fun and scrumptious addition to the just-perfect orange cream.

I wouldn't have expected all these components, plus crunchy white meringue, would work so well together but they sure did – and exceptionally so.

The specials board at Pachamama House

Tummies filled and eyes opened to various aspects of Peruvian cuisine, Pachamama House is one of those satisfying places where you're happy to linger a while. Bringing a unique taste of Peru to Surry Hills, it's a great fusion offering to broaden the Sydney (and Surry Hills) palate.

Food, booze and shoes dined at Pachamama House as a guest.