Artificer Coffee Bar and Roastery, Surry Hills

Yep, I'm a self-confessed coffee addict and geek. In spite of my existing preferred blends and roasters, I'm always on the look out for new brews in town. I've been following Shoji and Dan's work for a while now. Soon as I heard that two of Sydney's award winning SMH Good Cafe Guide best baristas (Shoji 2012 and Dan 2013) were about to open their new joint, I was so stoked!

Shoji

Just a few days before Christmas 2014, Artificer Specialty Coffee Bar and Roasters officially opened it's doors in Bourke Street, Surry Hills. They went with the minimalist-style fit out and they serve "coffee only" in the premises. The blends and single origins are roasted by the dynamic duo and cold brews from Salvage are also available. Equipped with a sleek Synesso machine, an EK43 grinder, a drip coffee brewers for batch, and pour over manual filters with a badass drip stand, there is no doubt they are all about that serious coffee biz.

Manual filter (pour over)

Kenya Muwa

I opted for a Kenya Muwa on manual filter pour over ($6) as it's an excellent season for Kenya coffee at the moment. It was light and juicy. Once it cools down the sweetness and notes of stonefruits come through more with nice acidity. The flavours linger a bit with every sip.

Piccolo latte

I can't leave without trying their house blend right? I had it as a piccolo latte ($3.80) and wow! I was very impressed with every sip. The sweet and creamy Jersey cow milk carried the amazing fruity notes nicely. The acidity was vibrant and the floral notes at the end caressed my palate. It was one of the best piccolo lattes I've had. If you like fruity coffees like I do, then this bad boy is for you!

You can only expect greatness from the Artificer boys. Every cup I've had was excellent and I will surely come back for more!

Artificer Coffee Bar and Roastery

546 Bourke Street

Surry Hills NSW

Opening hours:

Tuesday to Saturday 7am - 2pm

Sunday 8am - 2pm

CheekyBurger, Paddington

A lot of people have started dubbing Sydney as #Burgertown and I don't blame them. I've lost count of the amount of burger joints in Sydney but the more the merrier right? Especially if their burger game is spot on just like the the new CheekyBurger Bar in Potts Point.

They are situated on Oxford Street and is almost close to Woollahra. CheekyBurger is a newly opened diner themed small bar with milk bar snacks like burgers, fried chicken, mac & cheese, milkshakes and more! They also have a range of alcoholic beverages on offer and uses Campos beans for their coffee. The holy trinity of burgers, fried chicken and milkshakes were more than enough reasons for Chocolatesuze and I to go check them out.

Peanut butter and jam milkshake

Their peanut butter and jam milkshake ($7.99) was so awesome! It was like a light peanut butter and jam toast in a drink.

Corn on the cob

We started with the corn on the cob ($7.99). It consisted of two whole grilled corncobs with herbs, spices and grated Parmesan cheese. The corn was tasty, smoky and nicely cooked but we felt that it needed more cheese. But for $8, it was a bargain!

 

Buffalo wings

The buffalo wings ($12) with blue cheese dip was also a treat. The fried chicken wings had a crunchy outer layer and was coated in cayenne pepper hot sauce. The sauce seems to be a blend as it was not as hot and Chocolatesuze could handle it! We could taste the sharp blue cheese flavour but there was enough acidity present in the dip to cut through the sharp flavour.

Philly cheesesteak

The Philly cheesesteak ($14.99) here is one of the meatiest versions of this sandwich that I've had. It had many pieces of steak, melted cheese, grilled onions and grilled capsicums (or peppers). The sweet flavours from the onion and peppers worked well with the steak and cheese. I also really liked the soft sweet hotdog roll that they used.

Double cheekycheese

Fries ($3 with burger purchase)

The item that we anticipated the most was their Cheeky doublcheese ($14.99). This glorious cheeseburger with double pattie, double melted cheese, onion, pickles, mayo mustard and ketchup in a soft sweet bun was 100% legit! It stayed true to the classic and was absolutely delicious! The patties were cooked smashed style and it had a nice caramelised crust that gave out an extra sweet and smoky meaty flavour. Although the patties where cooked well-done, it still retained a lot of juicy goodness thanks to the smash method. I always love the zingy and tangy flavours created by mayo mustard and ketchup.

We were happy with our first CheekyBurger Bar experience and something tells me that it won't be the last visit. Their burger game is tight and I would say they are up there amongst the best in Sydney. Their burgers are also 1/2 price on Tuesdays from 5pm!

Cheekyburger 

312 Oxford Street

Paddington NSW 2021
Phone: 02 9331 7436

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cheekyburger

Instagram: http://instagram.com/cheekyburgerbar

Opening hours:

Tuesday to Sunday 11:00am till late

Brewristas, Glebe

Something I'm bringing over from last year to this year (and forever) is my obsession with filter coffee. I especially can't get enough of Ethiopia Yigracheffe cold drips! The fruity and floral flavours of the coffee from that region is so vibrant. I've been eyeing a particular Glebe specialty coffee joint for a while now that specialises in cold brew coffee. It goes by the name of Brewristas.

Simon a.k.a @Coffeeguru_

Filter Brewmaster Kevin

My buddy Simon D aka @Coffeeguru_ is one of the baristas at Brewristas and the person that has put this place on my radar. Soon as I found out that they are doing cold brews blended with lemon or tea, the coffee geek in me just wanted to visit them ASAP! So some food lovin' buddies of mine and I went to check them out at the beginning of the year.

This joint has a mixture of vintage and industrial fit out. Aside from the Synesso machine set-up at the shopfront, they also have a sleek brew bar at the back. The bar showcases v60 pour overs, a black EK43 grinder, siphons, steampunk and a neon blue-lited fridge for their cold brews! I was like a kid in a toy store!

The Drinks

Piccolo latte

The house blend used for their milk-based coffees is Sensory Lab's steadfast blend. I had a piccolo latte ($3.30) prepared by Simon and it tasted amazing! It had a medium to full body with sweet notes of milk chocolate. The textured milk's temperature was perfect.

We tried the cold brews prepared by Kevin:

Cold brew

We started with their current coffee cold brew ($9), which is a cold drip of Ethiopia Yigracheffe coffee roasted by Brewrista themselves. It was a little bit floral with fruity and chocolate sweet notes with medium body.

Then we had their brewtea ($10), which was a blend of the above mentioned cold drip coffee and a cold drip of black tea. The lovely aroma of lychee was quite strong. It was sweet with notes of stonefruits and lychee.

Their brewmonade ($10) is their popular cold brew and I could understand why. It was sweet, citrusy and refreshing! I could keep going but I didn't want to get too caffeinated and start bouncing off the walls.

The nutella frappe ($7) tasted as great as it looked! It was heavy with an intense  gianduja (chocolate & hazelnut paste) flavour and I love intense chocolate hazelnut flavours! If you want to take it to the next level, they also have the ultimate nutella frappe ($10) that has additional condensed milk and brownie.

The Food

Coconut poached chicken salad ($16): with spinach, fennel, coriander, watercress, topped with fried shallots, drizzled with a pomegranate infused lemon dressing

Let me start by saying that the grilled eggplant stack ($14) was amazing! It also had grilled zucchini, roasted tomato, mushrooms, Thai pesto, bocconcini, sweet potato pureé with additional chorizo ($3 extra). The soft textures with the creamy, caramelised and sweet flavours is addictive. The chorizo gives a nice garlicy and salty flavour contrast in this dish. This is a must for anyone who loves eggplant like myself.

Then there's the delicious Kevin's balls (4 pieces for $10). The awesomeness of these balls starts with the crispy shim ramyun crust, which is then followed by the juicy and spicy roast pork belly and kimchi on the inside. The sweet potato adds extra sweetness to balance out the flavours and the tofu gives a contrast silky texture.

When bacon & egg roll gets together with the korean pancake known as hotteok, a delicious open sandwich beauty called Porky Pig's hotteok ($15) is born! The hotteok itself is similar to a doughy bakpia/hopia rather than the traditional flakey pancake and is used as buns in this dish. The honey jam gives a delicious sweet flavour that compliments the salty bacon. The poached egg had a perfect runny yolk. The guacamole and habanero mayo gave it a nice twist. The rocket gave a good fresh balance to the dish.

There is no doubt that their milk-based and filter coffee is excellent. The food is not only delicious but innovative too. Brewristas is a great addition to the Glebe neighbourhood and Sydney cafe scene.

Brewristas

73 Glebe Point Road

Glebe NSW

Wesbite: http://www.brewristas.com.au 

Trading hours

Monday to Friday:

8:00am to 2:00pm

6:00pm to 10:00pm

Saturday:

9:00am to 12:00pm

Sunday:

9:00am to 9:00pm