Petersham, Sydney, Australia: Sweet Belem 21/9/8

In my previous blog, I mentioned that Petersham is a predominantly portuguese suburb. In that visit, we also visited a dessert place called Sweet Belem after our main meal.



Sweet Belem has been featured many times in the Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide as a dessert place to be visited. The place is not opulent or fancy but it is tastefully decorated. In fact, the coloured tiles feel authentic and culturally portuguese (on assumption) . I've tried booking cakes in bulk with them before, only to be told that the shop only makes a small quantity a day and the cakes are only sold in the store. Their reason was that they wanted to maintain the quality of the cakes. The shop obviously place quality over profits. Foodies after my heart, I was very impressed.

Still being very full from the Portuguese Chicken Restaurant, we decided to just try 2 desserts.




1) Chocolate Terrine

Rating: 6.5/10

This is a very pretty cake. It has 3 different layers of chocolate mousse- white, dark and milk. I confess that it was a bit disappointing. I attribute it to personal preference as I like my cakes quite light but it was slightly dense. However, a compliment I will pay it was that the terrine was not too sweet. Many chefs often overdo the sweetness in chocolate terrines.




2) Portuguese tart

Rating:8.5/10

It is my understanding that Sweet Belem is particular famous for this dessert. This is rightfully so. The Pastry was flaky and the custard of the tart was not too bland or too sweet. The custard at the top of the tart was lightly charred to give it the carmelised flavour.



Other useful details:
Address: 35 New Canterbury Rd, Petersham, 02 9572 6685
Price: About $5 per cake.

Eastwood, Sydney, Australia 4/10/8: Hukuya

Eastwood is a suburb in Sydney with mix of Korean and Chinese businesses. Most of the Chinese shops are on one side of the station and most of the Korean shops are on the other side.

It is not hard to guess which side is Korean or Chinese. If one can recognise either language, the signboards make it clear. Korean shops are also generally quite neat. The popular Korean businesses seem to be grocery shops selling Korean provisions, beauticians and hairdressers.

Hukuya is a Japanese sushi restaurant in Eastwood on the Korean side of the station. However, my blog sources tell me that it is run by Koreans. This hardly registers as a surprise as all the other shops surrounding it are Korean. The quality of the sushi is what I consider as a surprise as I have not eaten good sushi made by Koreans before. I was proven wrong.

Hukuya is a small restaurant that perhaps seats about 25. The turnover is quick as the service is fast and efficient. This is possible as while there are other Japanese meals like teriyaki chicken etc., most people go to the restaurant for the sushi and sashimi. Sushi and sashimi can be quickly prepared at the sushi counter and dished out to the customers across the counter.

Bookings in this restaurant are necessary. I've previously tried to come in at about 630pm only to be turned away. We entered the restaurant at 630pm where it was already quickly filling up, it was also clear from the reserved signs placed on the tables that everyone there had reserved their seats. If it means anything, I took it as a good sign.

We were given seats across the sushi counter where we could see the chef at work with his craft.

After much deep contemplation, we ordered the following:

1) Sushi and soba set $15

Rating: 7.5/10

7 pieces of sushi were presented to us on a wooden platform. Two of which were of the Korean type- stuffed with cucumber and a yellow coloured vegetable. They are of not much interest to me as you detect. The taste of it was pretty ordinary. The other five pieces were- two salmon, one chicken mayo, one tuna and one kingfish. I ate only the salmon and tuna sushi of which my husband devoured the rest. The fish slice paired with the rice was well balanced. The fish was obviously quite fresh. The amount of wasabi in the sushi was a good amount, not too much to over power but not too little that it does not provide the bite that the sushi needs. This is much better than the quality in sushi trains where the sushi has been out for a while.

The cold soba was a heap that came with a bowl of dark sauce. I had initially thought that it was miso soup but upon tasting the soba, I thought that the soba was too bland. I realised that the sauce had to be for the soba. I thought the sauce was very good. It was laced with a generous dose of spring onions. The sauce was only slightly sweet and salty that was perfect for the soba. My opinion is that cold soba has a light texture and hence a light sauce would be the best complement for it.

2) Sashimi $15

Rating: 8/10

There were about 15 pieces of sashimi on the wooden platform. This equates to about $1 a piece which is pretty reasonable.

The variety was tuna, kingfish and salmon. The key to sashimi as everyone knows is the freshness of the fish. Fresh fish has a crunchy texture to it. The freshness of tuna was evident from the red grapefruit colour. The salmon was laced with slim grains of fat to give it a lift in it's sweetness.
For a local sushi place, this is good sashimi.

3) Gzoya $8

Rating: 8/10

There are probably dumplings in every single Asian cuisine. Gzoya is the japanese version of dumplings. Most dumplings use minced meat of a low grade, the redeeming feature is usually the overall taste that masks the quality of the meat. The Gzoya here was good. They were fried up to be crunchy not soggy as they sometimes are. The pork in it was of a good quality and not too fatty. The chives inside could be tasted (meaning fresh!) and complemented the pork. the sauce that came with it was a vinegar sort of sauce that just enhanced the gzoya not overwhelm it.

4) Tea

I recognise that people do not go to a restaurant for the tea but the food was so good that the tea in comparison fell short. I don't think we should expect premium tea with such good prices but the green tea was obviously cheap stuff. This is a pity considering that the rest of the meal.

The meal cost $38 for the two of us. It didn't make us bloated but we left fairly contented and yearning for our next meal there.


Other details-

Address: Level 1, 25 Railway Pde Eastwood NSW 2114. (02) 98048200
Seating: Comfortable. There are tables and there are seats just across the sushi bar. I suggest the seats opposite the sushi bar if you are coming in twos.
Price: About $20 per person.
Service: Quick. Not particularly attentive post ordering. Their focus is on getting people their meals and shifting them out of the restaurant.

Petersham, Sydney, Australia: The ORIGINAL charcoal chicken 21/9/8

Petersham is a lovely Sydney inner city surprise. I first discovered its Portuguese food centre with a friend though old fashioned hearsay. After asking several locals for directions including one that suggested Oporto, we found the main area on New Canterbury Road.

Like many inner city surburbs, the main area of New Canterbury Road can be a bit misleading at first glance. It can give the appearance of being old and unkempt. However, the surburb of Petersham is pleasant and does not disappoint. The food is often good value for money. The many streets are lined with pretty houses with old fashioned charm. Best of all, unlike most inner city suburbs like Newtown, the time taken to find parking is usually a healthy five mins.

The food spot visited on this day was Petersham Charcoal Chicken.

This place is touted to be where the famous Portuguese charcoal-style chicken originated ( not Portugal!!). Sydneysiders are known to come from all over just to grab a bite. The evidence of this was clear when we got into the restaurant at 1230. A queue of six was already at the takeaway section and the actual sit down section of the restaurant was quickly filling up. For a hot and lazy Sunday afternoon, this was remarkable.

Looking through the drinks fridge to choose drinks often makes me feel like a kid in a candy house. I enjoy finding out a new range of drinks associated with different cuisines. Unfortunately, the choices here were a bit too normal- the common brand iced teas and soft drinks. The odd man out was a Portuguese sort drink called Sumol. However, upon my first sip, it was clear that it was similar to fizzy squash.

Our dishes ordered came in the following order:

1) Clams with garlic and butter. $16

The clams were in a large terracotta dish. It was a well sized portion and was buttered generously. Garlic was finely chopped and infused into the butter. All 3 of us were content with the dish. Simple but delicious. A good start.

2) Salads- tabouli and Greek salad.

One reader at eatability.com says that the salads are "very basic". I'm inclined to agree. The salads were not only basic but I thought that they were below standard of what I have tasted in ordinary takeaway shops.

The tabouli had too much parsley and not enough tomato to balance it out. It was also too salty and too sour for my liking. The Greek salad was not too bad and the fetta was generous. However, again it was too salty. I started to wonder if the Portuguese like salt a whole lot more than I do.

3) Tomato rice

There was not enough tomato taste in the rice for me to be able to blind taste it as tomato rice. Other than the salt, it tasted like ordinary rice. The salty theme was getting more defined

4) Portuguese chicken

This was the reason for the long queues. When it came to our table, it was 1.30 and the queues had only gotten longer.

I was very excited to try it. The chicken was nicely charcoal grilled on the outside. Genuine Portuguese chicken is flattened out when grilled on charcoal unlike it's counterfeits that are just grilled on the skewer without being flattened. Hence, a good Portuguese chicken I believe should have a nice smokey flavour all over the chicken.

This one did have a nice smokey flavour. However, I think it was over cooked and a bit too dry for my liking. An over-cooked chicken loses the sweetness of the chicken flavour as all the juices run out during grilling. Perhaps the chicken also needs to be smothered with more piri piri sauce with the sauce served as a side dip.

The meal came to a grand cost of $72 for three. This is pretty good considering that we were very full having over ordered (again) and got doggie bags for the leftovers. I can't reconcile the quality of food with the queues that come. However, for that price, I would consider coming back when in this part of town.

Being very full, our gluttony pushed us to a dessert place post lunch- Sweet Belem as featured in our next blog.

Other useful details-
Method of payment: Cash only
Service: Reasonable. It took a little long to get the bill
Seating: Simple. Seats next to the charcoal grill are a bit stuffy and hot.