Sydney 2009 (Part 1)

This is super way overdue. It's like almost close to a year after I took these photos that they are appearing now. Oh no. My photo uploading skills are seriously atrocious I know. Another level all together. *hangs head in shame*

But, I simply must share my Sydney/Brisbane photos. Cos I love them! (: This was last year in August when I went back for my convocation. I dropped by Sydney for a few days before my graduation and together with my Sis, we ate, sightseed and shopped. Though we privately (not so now) nicknamed the trip "the worst holiday trip ever" (many many reasons...), from these photos, you certainly can't tell why. Haha. Part 1 is mostly about our eating. We went the Sydney Fish Market on the first day, and had a feast of fresh seafood. Yums.

Sydney Fish Market; Cooked food; Sashimi bar; Crowds

Huge ass birds - pelicans?

Fresh seafood galore

THE Oyster man

Man, this dude was cool. He was just standing there, shucking oysters the whole time. Before we ate, he shucked. As we ate, he shucked. After we ate, he was still shucking. Isn't he awesome? His job = shuck oysters. The mountain of oysters/shells beside him were proof of his deft work.

Rows upon rows of oysters

Our meal

This was our (brunch?) first meal of the day at Sydney. After checking into the hotel, we immediately headed for the market for food. We certainly weren't disappointed. There was a crowd, but it took us like 10 minutes (phew) to grab a seat. 

 This is one huge ass oyster, as seen below.

 Don't you just wish for an oyster right now?

 Lobsters. We shared one.

 Thanks, mate for our oysters! (:

Outside the market, at the docks

 Friendly fisherman who posed for the camera

 Balmain, Darling Street

Our next stop in the noon, was Adriano Zumbo. Having read of his desserts online, I was determined to get my hands on some to try. We managed to find his little cute shop and cos there was only two of us, we got three cakes and macarons to munch during our whole trip. It's so sad when I see the whole array of desserts there, and can't try everything (which I was really tempted to) as we definitely can't finish them between the two of us. If only we had more people....I would have gone bonkers saying to the counter girl, "One of everything!" Snorts. Yeah right.

These and more.

There were so many desserts, all with quirky names and divine descriptions. I was torn between all of them. After hearing the counter girl and a lady in the queue before us recommendations, we decided on the Lucas rides the tube, Pinenut millefueille and Blanca.

 Cassis macaron

While waiting for the bus, we decided to munch on the macarons. There was only cassis flavoured left when we visited the shop in the late afternoon (proves how popular Adriano Zumbo is cos their desserts fly off the shelves). I remembered commenting that it tasted like Ribena, where my sister pointed out that doh, Ribena is blackcurrant. Haha.

Pinenut millefueille, Blanca and Lucas rides the tube.

Pinenut millefueille -  Dark chocolate cream layered between two layers of pine nut guanduja mousse on a sacher sponge, and topped with caramelised millefueille. 

Blanca - Pear & vanilla ganache, pear & white chocolate sacher sheets and Kumabo ganache.

Lukas Rides The Tube - Macadamia praline mousse, macadamia docquoise, vanilla chantilly, pear tartin pallette, macadamia feuilletine.

I remembered all of them were pretty awesome tasting. We had the Blanca the first night after dinner. The lady in front of me in the queue had recommended this saying it was good, and she wasn't joking. I normally hate white chocolate stuff. But I totally liked this cake. Thumbs up. The other two we reserved for the next day when we went our for sightseeing. And though they looked horrible (they sort of melted under the intense heat in the car), they still tasted good. Man, I wish I lived in Sydney, so I can try ALL his creations. 

Okay, that's all for part one. Still have parts two and three to go...whoops.