Room Nine - Surry Hills, NSW

For the last day of my Sydney Getaway, breakfast was at Room Nine on Crown Street in Surry Hills.  This is a funky little cafe with a take away counter for quick service as well as indoor and outdoor seating if you'd like to have a more leisurely dining experience.  

The menu features some standard breakfast fare like eggs benedict on Turkish bread with a side of avocado (pictured right) and fruit salad w rhubarb compote and yoghurt (pictured below).  They also offer a few items you won't find on every other menu like their corn fritter stack w bacon, avocado, rocket and a tomato salsa dressed w balsamic vinegar, with a side of poached eggs (pictured above).  

The food was fresh and tasty, reasonably priced and we didn't have to wait all morning for it to come out of the kitchen.  Staff were friendly, welcoming and incredibly helpful.  

Room Nine's coffee is definitely a draw card.  I had two long black and a flat white and they were all superb.  I don't remember what coffee brand they're using but I hope they don't change it or their barista before my return! 

Coffee

Day two of my Sydney visit and I finally found a good coffee!  After suffering through three sub standard coffee, and not even finishing two of them, I walked off the monorail and straight into a Toby's Estate umbrella!  Toby's Estate is one of my favourite coffee brands so I knew I was winning even before I even walked into the cafe.  

Taste Baguette in World Square, Liverpool Lane, is not too far from where I am staying and at the top of my list of places to go tomorrow morning.  I will definitely be having another coffee and might take a chocolate brownie with me for morning tea, as it was the best chocolate brownie I've ever had in my life!  Seriously. 

Recipes - Coffee and Hazelnut Muffins

Coffee and Hazelnut is a delicious combination that works really well as a muffin.  I really really love a super strong coffee flavour and would happily double the amount of coffee used, so add more at your discretion. 

Ingredients
1 quantity sweet muffin mix
2 x double ristretto shots
1 cup hazelnuts, chopped and dry roasted
1/4 cup SR flour, extra


Following the sweet muffin mix recipe;


Step 2 - Add hazelnuts and extra flour with dry ingredients.
Step 3 - Add coffee with wet ingredients.

Glee Coffee Roasters - Tuggerah, NSW

I adore coffee.  I covet coffee.  I respect coffee.  I would say that I love coffee, but that would be an understatement. I would rather drink nothing than drink a bad coffee. My desire to drink only to best is behind my driving past 15 odd cafes every morning to reach Glee Coffee Roasters at Tuggerah.  

These guys KNOW coffee!  They buy green beans, roast onsite and serve fresh coffee made to perfection.  I often joke that they are the John West of coffee cause it's the shots that Glee rejects that make Glee the best.  If they pour a shot that is not perfect, they make your coffee again.  Quality is important.  For this reason, they only serve coffee in one size and do not offer flavour syrups or even sugar (there is some sugar under the counter but your name gets put on the black list if you ask for it). 

Off their coffee menu are some gorgeous teas, of the same impeccable quality and standard as their coffee.  If you're a chocolate lover, give their Fat Chocolate a go.  It's the consistency of chocolate custard with the flavour of decadent hot chocolate.  

They open 8:30-3 Mon-Fri and 8:30-1 Sat.  Go see them. They'll ruin you for other cafes. 

Check out their facebook page and their website.  

Recipes - Chocolate Mousse Cake

This rich, decedent cake is a great way to impress people with minimal effort!  The recipe goes against all my cooking instincts and needs to be followed to the letter.  I found the recipe on taste.com.au, read through all 160 ratings and comments and made it twice before posting just to make sure I had it right.  Enjoy.  

Ingredients 

500g dark chocolate

125g butter

2 tbs golden syrup

4 eggs

1 tbs caster sugar

1 tbs plain flour 

200g Mascarpone

2 x double ristretto shots
1 tbs icing sugar

Step 1 - Preheat oven to 220°C.  Grease and line a 20cm spring form pan.
Step 2 - In a bowl over simmering water, melt chocolate, butter and golden syrup. Set aside to cool.
Step 3 - Beat eggs and sugar for 10 minutes.
Step 4 - Fold flour gently through eggs then fold in chocolate mixture.
Step 5 - Pour mixture into prepared pan and bake on the middle shelf of the oven for 12 minutes.
Step 6 - Remove from oven and transfer directly to fridge.  Refrigerate for at least two hours and up to 24.  
Step 7 - Beat mascarpone, coffee and icing sugar together until thick and well combined.
Step 8 - To serve, slice cake with a warm knife and serve with a dollop of coffee mascarpone. 

Notes:


The timing of this recipe is really important.  Eggs need to be beaten for 10 minutes, timed and cake needs exactly 12 minutes in the oven.  


When removed from the oven, the centre of the cake will be very runny.  Do not return to oven, move cake directly to fridge to set.  

Up to half the dark chocolate can be substituted for milk chocolate to cut the richness of this cake.

Double ristretto shots can be replaced with 2 x regular coffee shot or (if desperate) 2 tbs instant coffee dissolved in 1 tbs hot water.