The best brownies I’ve found in Sydney are in Balmain at the Adriano Zumbo Cafe.  You can order the brownie just plain, which is a very acceptable way to ingest your chocolate, or you can order the brownie a la mode and it will be served with a lovely scoop of vanilla ice cream and a bit of strawberry.  If you miss the little walkway leading back to the cafe, you’ll happen upon the tiny Adriano Zumbo Patisserie where you’ll find a huge selection of pastries, macaroons, and bread.  Since this bakery is strictly standing room only, and a tight fit at that, they will happily direct you to the cafe a few doors down if you want to sit and linger a while.

Best Brownie in Sydney, Adriano Zumbo Cafe

Adriano Zumbo Cafe, Balmain

If you need a further chocolate fix, walk west along Darling Street into Rozelle.  There you’ll find Belle Fleur Chocolates, some of the best artisan chocolates you’ll find anywhere.

Belle Fleur Chocolates, Rozelle

Another great chocolate patisserie is Boon Chocolates in Darlinghurst , and the Lindt Cafe at Darling Harbour is not to be missed by any chocoholic wandering by.  If you are looking for an excellent selection of chocolate bars, two of the best places to look are About Life and David Jones Food Hall in Sydney.  Some excellent choices would be: Zokoko, Valhrona, Amedei, Cocolo, and Belle Fleur.

I spent eleven years living in San Francisco and the Peninsula before moving to Sydney.  There is a lot of good bread in San Francisco.  So when we moved here I was initially a bit let down by what I found.  Then I found the fancy french bakery on the main street in my neighborhood, Victoire on Darling Street in Balmain. Their Levain is as close as I’ve found to a San Francisco sourdough bread anywhere outside of the Bay Area.  It’s a bit expensive at $7 a loaf for the medium size but it is well worth it, and it is one of the few things on which I regularly splurge.  Their Rustica is a lovely peasant style bread.  They also have truly excellent croissants.

When we make it to the monthly farmers’ market in Pyrmont I try to stop by the booth for La Tartine which makes an excellent organic wholemeal sourdough bread (also known as whole-grain).  It’s dense and chewy with that sourdough bite.  It works as well with butter and jam as it does with goat cheese and tomato with a drizzle of olive oil.

Another  of my favorites is Sonoma Bakery sourdough.  Love the name.  It brings back memories of San Francisco and the Sonoma Wine Country just north of SF.  They usually have a booth at the farmers’ market and also have a shop in Glebe which is not that far from Balmain.

Last to be mentioned but by no means last is Adriano Zumbo.  They are better known for their out-of-this-world pastries and chocolates but they also have truly yummy breads.  I am lucky that Adriano Zumbo and the Adriano Zumbo Chocolate Cafe are both in Balmain and within rock-throwing distance of Victoire (not that I would be throwing any rocks at them).

One thing to keep in mind if you are hoping to get yourself some bread from one of these bakeries / patisseries is that they often sell out of the best loaves early in the day.  Victoire often sells out of their Levain my mid-day.  Same with Adriano Zumbo.  So if you can’t make it until the end of the day just know you might not get your first choice.  Just this morning at 10am I was in Victoire and they were already out of chocolate croissants and only had three plain croissants left.  Since croissants are one of the treats my daughter loves best, I was lucky to have gotten there just in time.  The woman in line after me bought the very last one.

The best pizza to be found in Sydney is in the hamlet of Balmain, just west of the city centre. The pizza at a little place called Rosso Pomodoro on Buchanan street down by White Bay is as authentic as you’ll find anywhere in the city.  Tonight I had a Pizza Capricciosa, which includes tomato, Italian mozzarella, ham, olives, mushrooms, and artichokes…absolutely delicious.  I am very lucky that I can call in my order for take away and by the time I walk down there it is almost but not quite out of the oven, and that it is still hot when I get it home.  Lucky indeed.

Blue Moon over Sydney Harbour Bridge 31 Dec 09

We spent New Year’s Eve in Sydney watching fireworks over the Harbour.  We had an excellent view of the Harbour Bridge and Darling Harbour from a sixth floor balcony in Pyrmont.  These photos are from the 9pm fireworks display.  Later on there were fireworks at 11pm, 11:30pm, and a grand show at midnight.  Fireworks barges had been set up all along the harbour to give views throughout Sydney.

Fireworks over Sydney Harbour 31 Dec 09

Fireworks over Sydney Harbour 31 Dec 09

I really wanted Mexican food. Putting salsa on my eggs every morning can only pacify me for so long. So tonight we tried a new (to us) Mexican Restaurant in Glebe called the Flying Fajita Sistas. This one is down the street from Baja Cantina, which bills itself as being true Californian Mexican food. We’ve eaten there a few times. BC is passable, not good, just passable. The black beans I had at BC were undercooked, and in my book that is really inexcusable. Flying Fajita Sistas on the other hand, is excellent. I’m not saying it’s the best Mexican food I’ve ever had, but you could put that restaurant in most parts of California and it would do just fine – with a few tweeks. The only thing that really needed work was their margaritas.

I was dismayed to find that we had to pay $11 for chips and salsa. Yes, you read that correctly and it is not a typo. It was good chips and salsa, but $11, really? Apparently in Australia, the chips and salsa are not gratis. Adam ordered Sangria and I got a margarita. His was good, mine really needed some work. It was way too sweet and there was not enough tequila in it (and this is coming from a woman who does not like her drinks very strong). We ordered chipotle chicken quesadillas for Athena, which she refused to even try, so Adam ate them. I tried them and they were very good. Adam ordered pulled pork enchiladas, which were very good and he says he’d order them again. I ordered chicken tamales with a mole rojo sauce on them. I was a bit dubious, and was very pleasantly surprised. Someone in their kitchen has actually been to Mexico and knows how to make a proper mole sauce. My tamales were wrapped in banana leaves in the Mayan style, rather than corn husks, which is what I am used to from California and Texas. I’d only ever had them served that way in the Yucatan. Adam and my dishes were served with black beans and rice and salad. Mine also came with a very good corn and tomato side. I would absolutely go back and order any of those dishes again. Next time I’ll try the fajitas, though.

Adam says he’s entirely too full. Well, he did eat his meal, Athena’s meal, and a bit of mine as well. I will note that he did skip lunch.

Something else to note: I was raised in San Antonio. Occasionally we would drive to Mexico for lunch. I also lived in California for over 10 years and will be living there again within the next year or so. I know my Mexican food.