Race, Brunch, Repeat

"Great brunch, please bring the car around" was my departing remark to the missus. To get 7+ in my books, I want to see creativity and be left satisfied.

There is great debate where Obi Wan continually disappears to between the multiple Star Wars Episodes. Turns out, he mans a Moroccon kitchen in Balmain. Kasbah and OW are both institutionally old-school, stubbornly resisting a landscape where society lusts for next level experiences. Decor and menu is still stuck in the 1990s and tables are empty. I love it.

Jug is self-pouring, shown below.



In the non-pancake section, World Famous Tagine is circled in red, which we know inspires hunger; ask Ronald McDonald, the Rooster or Colonel Sanders. An exotic sounding Chakchouka is in the slimming colour Black; not a good sign.



Roast Pumpkin Tagine with mushroom, spinach, capsicum, tomato, feta, onion and eggs - $22.50



We're beside ourselves with excitement seeing a tagine pot on a board.

Not the type of sauce that is tomato-based. Kasbah's version is more reliant on a slow cook-down of the vegetables. Semi-viscous yolk runs rampant over slowly roasted pumpkin.



Similar to SW Episodes 1-3, bread is best left collecting dust. I've never seen a good episode of Turkish bread and the lifelessly dry pieces remind me why.

Overall, good flavour but way too pricey for an everyday choice. 8/10.

Side of hummus



Hummus bypasses Turkey and ends up in the mouth. Silky smooth, delicious by itself. Minor step below Kepos Street Kitchen (Sydney's best).

Chakcouka scrambled eggs, smoked salmon and salmon roe on toast - $21



Wife wastes 20 min jousting folded eggs and smoked salmon mounted on toast. She is outmatched by the dark arts of deception in a leaf with 8 balls. Why this is added is beyond me...



I like the seasoning and careless layering. DYI reverse engineering - Turkish bread from Coles, large plate from IKEA, caged eggs from Aldi. Forgettable and enjoyable giving 7/10.

With a low starting bar, the upside is considerable:

- Food - 8/10 - as true to Morocco flavours as you can find in Balmain.
- Value - 6/10 - over $20 pp but generous serves with a fall back option on (bad) bread.
- Other - 7/10 - $3.80/hr street parking and no valet. Staff are not students in short-shorts.
- Overall - 7.5/10 - surpasses my low expectations with good flavour and a food coma.

If you believe Harrison Ford is better in the pre-2000 era than today, then Kasbah is worth a visit.

Will I be returning?
Yes. I don't show my photo in bad reviews so here I am.


Disclaimer - big fan of the latest Star Wars Episode 7. 

 

For once I made the 6:30am Kiosk start. Idea was get the kms in before the heat then retire with a good breakfast, joined by Lorie, Champ and Lissy. Set out at 6am feeling pretty rubbish, but you never know how the body responds once warm.

Champ goes left field with a coriander-infused fried chicken roll. I had a nibble and liked it. 7/10.

12 hours separation between croissants for breakfast and doughnuts for dessert - this is the norm. Brewtown Newtown disrupts conventional meal plans through a clever cross-breed of the two. The Cronut.

Despairing competition return fire with bruffins (brioche + muffin) and even doughnut milkshakes. BN is one-step ahead and now we have the cruffin (croissant + muffin). A beautiful abomination.



Well, it's a calorie bloodbath and liposuction practitioners are rejoicing.

Back in brunch world, BN is on the offensive. Everything is 'on-trend' and my food vocab is expanding as fast as the waistline - black sausage, gravlax, gazpacho, shoulder's of farm animals.



Two mains are shot out in 15 min and the table resembles a see-saw. Large kid LHS (pork) and a malnourished kid RHS (salad).

Round 1.

Chilli pork shoulder hash with fennel, peas, poached egg and toast - $17



Lots of pork is hidden. This pig clearly had self-esteem issues because he was one, overfed beast with a sky high BMI. What you want is a fatty protein rendered down into a gooey, succulent mess. Slather this with yolk and it's a fail safe combo.



Perhaps the fennel is overcooked and the potato too soggy. I revert back to this for comfort - don't order a pork knuckle at the pub then complain about the side salad.

Calorie counters may criticise the heaviness of a mount of fatty pork. For me, I can't count over 1,000 and in any case, under $20 for a food coma is good value. Not pretty but neither was the hog. 8/10.

Onto the salad, where wisdom tells me to add chicken and poached egg.

Superfood Salad with Poached Chicken and Poached Egg - $16 + $3 + $4



Way too much going on and I'm not distracted by citrus slithers nor leaves.

It's all about the chicken and pumpkin show and this is one show that must not go on. Feels like shredded chicken and the pumpkin is missing the fresh-of-the-oven sensation.

Poached egg is always good, but note the $4 price tag for a non-biodynamic egg.



Over $20 for unnecessary complexity in a standard salad. 6/10.

Two dishes give a blended score of 7. Can the cronut or cruffin save BN from shame status? I'm risk averse and choose cinnamon cronut.



French plus American marriages do not work - too sweet. Scraps go to the wife. I say 5/10, she scores 8. Whenever is the wife right?

Small sample set but the food is well off recommended status.

- Food - 7/10 - theoretical innovation, dishes seem hit-and-miss.
- Value - 7/10 - $4 for a lonesome poached egg. What more is there to say.
- Other - 6/10 - fast turnaround on a weekday, but the weekend wait is ridiculous.
- Overall - 7/10 - innovation for it's own sake. Not your ever day joint.

Food bucket list -1, cafe go-to-list unchanged (at 3), blacklist of friends with a bad recommendation +1.

Will I be returning?
Eyes on the Black Sausage. Once you go black, you can't go back.

Can never say NO to a social long-run with the team in Centennial. However, my run yesterday meant a tall ask for the legs to back up for 2.

On my warm-up to the Kiosk (7am start), I glimpsed the 6:30am group shooting south past the Moore Park Golf Course. Tagged on here for 2km before the 'start'. Well, I think the crew is getting a calorie head start ahead of Xmas as the attendance was sky high.

Some regulars (Timmy, JFen, Craig, CT, Greta, Gleeso), others returning (Jeet, Renaud, Enda, LJ) and finally newish recruits (Lambert, Champ).

Pace picked up at instantly. I was happy to oblige but with JFen smashing 4:20s, we doggedly hung on. First 10km loop at this pace really thinned the team out.

Partly to blame was the temps, then later the Woollahra Gate Climb. Shown below, motivation was a big issue for Lambert, Renaud, Enda, shirtless Timmy and JFen (head under a tap).

Cafe Shekin shares the same excellent brunch genetics of its Enmore-based mother; Middle-Eastern tilt, massive serves. Honestly, the main difference is amusement over the local clientele.



Erskinville is weird. I observe marauding zombies sucking disposable cups whilst dragging squealing beasts on chains. False alarm - it's just a young demographic of coffee-addicts where ownership of a designer dog is mandatory.

Menu is the same as Enmore! No point repeating the fabulous avocado falafel (The Bite) or baked eggs (Shakshuka) when I've ventured this far...

Lucky, there is back-up.



Shenkin Stack - salmon, egg, bocconocini, labanne and tomato on sourdough - $18.

'Stack' has positive word associations. Thus I don't read the ingredients.



Similar to school and career, lack of literacy skills hurts. I may be on detention.

Clean egg-slicing technique and salmon layering appeals to my OCD. Taste wise, my best translation is a bruschetta married to a DIY Philadelphia cream-cheese job. Boring.



Above, note a giant leaf. It's a decoy and I fell for it. Next time, read the ingredients. 5/10.

Smoked eggplant, zuccini, israeli salad with creamy tahini sauce - $18

Like a black truffle (sub-terrain), a smoked eggplant is a rare find in cafes. Happy days when I sniff one out. Base is crispy with that beautiful charred flavour. With creamy sauce, there is a beautiful contrast.

Fresh, filling and tasty. How can I complain. 8/10.


Shenkin (any outpost) is 8/10. Though you'll never leave hungry at Shenkin, dish selection is an art:

- Good  - The Bite, Shakshuka, Hummus Plate.
- Regret - Shenkin Stack and any standard non-Israeli affairs.

Will I be returning?
Enmore, Surry Hills, Newtown or Erskinville. All the same.

Race season is now closed, race weight goals gone and out comes the stretch pants. Friday's sprint event was the Beer Mile, then comes the food equivalent of a 42.2km. Thanksgiving at the Fentons.



Pleasure mixing it up with only the food-loving runners of HuRTS (and +1s, offspring); notably the Everetts (R&J), Heyden, CT, Macca, Renaud, Jeet, Eoin, Fats, Sonya, JO'C, Quentin, James M and LJ.

At 1:30pm, 20 of us are hungry and share the same unspoken skepticism...Is American cuisine more than deep-fried butter sticks, peanut butter bagels and a take on Chinese Peking Duck that's closer to Lebanese kebab?

Like a steep climb, breathing shortens as covers are lifted. First flies, then diners converge on the amalgamation of American classics.

OK this can't be safe. Carved turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, sides, sides and more sides. My opening shot shows a segmented section for pie! Fantastic.



Food critic hat goes on and I'm not deterred by generous portions. No dish labels displeases me. Some of us venture from the Inner West and we need to know if the carrots are organic?

Initially, we're laughing at the minute plate diameter of 20cm. Too small to house such juicy turkey.



70% beehive straight to a peculiar looking tray, to which JFen proudly insists is The Dish to try.

Sweet Potato and Marshmallow Casserole (Fenton Family)



Translation - golden potato mash, encased in crusty flakes and generously layered in melted clouds of toasted marshmallows. What is this abomination?



One fork later ... the US citizenship application is out. Ignore a defunct political situation and a broken healthcare system. Worship the mashmallow upgrade! It works and Jeet and Renaud are all on the same page.



Carb loading does not end here. Cornbread (RHS), being so heavy is a waste of stomach real estate. A few unnamed Bondi residents express disappointment in the lack of quinoa sprouted bread.



My pick of the salads is the pumpkin. Creator is not certainly not shy to showcase feta!



Everyone knows to quarantine a 2nd stomach for pie. Imagine our fear seeing the pie count at five!

Left to right ... Lattice Apple Pie #1 (Everett), Straight Apple Pie #2 (Fattorini), Pumpkin Pie (Heyden), and Pecan Pie (Fenton). I order the lot.
For me - Pecan > AP #2 > AP #1 > Pumpkin.

Pecan wins due to strong caramel flavours, high nut ratio and thick crust. Meanwhile, J Everett, the aspiring Apple Pie maestro nervously waits for my verdict.

I'm no pie expert but I credit him with hand-made pastry and a slow apple cook-down job. He could take a leaf from AP #2 (Fats) with finer apple slicing and cinnamon agression.

Lastly, Pumpkin Pie is sweeter than my preference. Not quite for me.

The result of this five course is a food baby that displaces my actual kid.



It's time to ignore the photogenic people in the forground (Lucy, Taffy, JFen, Renaud, Macca and Sonya) and utilise the jumping castle.



Desperate for a turn in the castle, we waited, waited and waited. Sadly, Fats and a dozen kids had a four hour monopoly on this house-of-fun. Everyone else suffered. Even so, overwhelming feedback on those that did try, said the bounce-factor was sub-par.

On balance, tick to the food and company, cross to poor Castle utilisation:

- Food - 8/10 - marshmallow combo wins. Turkey good, other sides hit and miss.
- Value - 9/10 - main costs for me is bridge toll, screaming toddler and 4L Blue Ribbon ice-cream.
- Other - 7/10 - limited parking and the wait line on the Castle was ridiculous.
- Overall - 8/10 - North Shore lacks good American cuisine. This is a decent plug.

Thanks to the lovely Fenton family and HuRTS chefs for salvaging the North Side's faltering reputation as a respectable food destination. We all had a great time and look forward to 2016.

Photo disclaimer - kids photos not shown as I'm concerned the type of people that read this blog. 

Lovely outdoor seating with Greta, JO'C, Taffy, J&R.


Renaud and Quentin gleefully lining up for the fourth course. JFen said neither tipped...


JO'C, CT and Jeet hiding beers from the shot.


Quentin and JFen crossing swords


JFen's sword is inadequate, so Bonnie steps in.


Everyone pretending to smile whilst actually waiting to eat.