Within minutes of us arriving at the restaurant, owner Josh Nicholls had come up to our table and enquired as to whether we were the South African food bloggers that were in Sydney for a few weeks. We replied that we indeed were, and asked how on Earth he knew that. He said that he keeps an eye out for Café Ish on the web using Google Alerts. Very clever, if I don’t mind saying so myself as I use it too for various topics that I find interesting. It’s a very good way to automatically find out what is being said about any search terms that interest you.
Ok, so I was a bit taken aback to have been “caught out”. Mostly though because that’s never happened before. I suppose it had to happen some time though!
Café Ish is a cosy little café by day, restaurant by night place. It’s intimate and certainly the kind of place that you can get to know the owner-operators and chat about the food that you’re eating, as long as they’re not too busy cooking and serving. Although we didn’t query where everything was from, I imagine that it’s the kind of place that if you did want to know, you could probably get a straight answer – that is if is isn’t already on the menu.
Josh was quite open about the blogging scene, and we chatted about it from both points of view for a good while. He’s had some bad experiences before with food bloggers, but he did say in a tweet that I saw that for every food blogger that comes in and writes about the place, he gets ten more customers. Well I certainly hope so because the food was excellent and those additional ten people would be doing themselves a favour by coming in and giving Café Ish a try.
Now Café Ish is what is described as “A little Native, a little organic, A little Japanese – no sushi!” – ok I can just imagine how many people see the word Japanese and come inside expecting to find sushi. But where I’m going with this is more on the native side. I’m curious about the use of native ingredients, and while it will be a while before I start eating kangaroo and crocodile (I don’t eat game in my own country either), the use of native flora intrigues me. Josh was nice enough to bring out a selection of native berries, fruits and even a flower for us to try. Surprisingly nearly all of these were incredibly sour and bitter, although some had a strange allure that made me wonder whether I could get used to such a bitter taste. Josh explained that nearly all the native berries were bitter but with additional preparation could be made into the most sweet and interesting tasting ingredients that when combined with (what I would call) “western” ingredients make a much more interesting dish. He also brought out a selection of herbs for us to have a look at and most importantly smell. Not surprisingly, the herbs did smell amazing. I asked Josh whether he’d be willing to share what he shared with us with others who come in to the restaurant, and his answer was definitely as long as the restaurant isn’t busy. So if you’re at all interested in the native foods, “bush food” or “bush tucker” as some might say, then ask.
On to the food. We ordered our mains and a side order of fries ($6). We felt a bit silly ordering chips in that they might detract from the main course, but we were reassured that it was one of their most popular sides. The chips were indeed tasty and not too thin. In fact they were the perfect size for dunking into the supplied wasabi mayo. The mayo was amazing. Looking at it you would not know that it contained wasabi – there was no hint of green, but as soon as you taste it you got a distinct wasabi taste. Not too hot, but not too mild either. A lovely accompaniment to the chips.
Before the main courses arrived, a trio of salts were placed on the table. A green tea salt (left), a volcanic salt (middle), and a citrus salt (right). All of them were distinctly different from each other (which I’d think is the idea). I think the volcanic was my favourite, while the citrus salt was also very nice. The green tea salt was good too, but I’m not much of a green tea fan – that said of course, the flavours were mild and not over powering.
For main course, Caroline had the Chef’s Choice for the evening, “Lemon Myrtle & Green Tea Roast Chicken with Kipfler Potatoes, Spinach and Wild Thyme Gravy” ($27), which also comes with your choice of either an organic wine or beer included in the price. Caroline raved about this, and indeed when I had a taste it was excellent. The “chook” was perfectly cooked and the potatoes with the gravy had a “Christmassy” taste. To me the taste was very reminiscent of christmas stuffing when made with sage and onion and other herbs, most probably including thyme. It could have been Christmas in July, and indeed the meal was very welcome when it is as cold as it is currently in Sydney!
I had the “Akdjurra seasoned roasted wild Barramundi”, with a warm tofu and tomato salad, organic black sesame dressing and wakame seaweed ($28.50). I’ve been a fan of barramundi since one of our early visits to Australia, but ever since that first taste up in Queensland all those years ago, I’ve never had another that could match it. Ok, I’ll be honest in saying that I have only had it once or twice since then, but when you wait years and years between servings the anticipation builds. I’m glad to say that Café Ish’s barramundi is just as good, if not better than what I’ve had before. I like a firm fish, but I know that you’re not supposed to over cook fish, so usually chefs slightly undercook with the intention that by the time it gets to the table it will have finished cooking and be just right. However in my uneducated opinion it often comes a little too soft for my liking. I think Josh got it just right – not too firm, but also not too soft.
The tofu and tomato salad was lovely, especially when eaten with the seaweed and black sesame dressing.
After the main courses we both had a wattle maccacino. Wattle because it contains ground wattle seed, and macc-acino because it is made with a macadamia nut syrup. We were brought sugar, but told that it probably will not need it. We agree that it was not required. I was lovely and sweet, with a distinct “different” quality to it. Clearly made with excellent coffee, and brewed with an expert hand, this has to be one of the best coffees that I have ever had.
On to dessert. We decided to have two of the desserts and share them. This one is Ai’s chocolate bunya gateaux ($11). It’s served warm with a wattle seed and macadamia ice cream, and an ume boshi puree. A quick web search tells me that ume boshi, is a dried ume fruit. Ume is a type of prune that is similar to a plum and/or apricot. It is sour and salty, which is what I found when I tasted it on it’s own, however combined with the gateaux and ice cream it was a nice and interesting combination of flavours.
Now everything so far has been very, very good. But in both of our opinions (and bear in mind that we are dessert lovers), the lemon myrtle delicious pudding with Gundowring Creek vanilla ice cream, was the star of the show ($11). Caro’s usually sold as soon as lemon is introduced to anything, but in this case I have to agree that this dessert is indeed delicious, and could even be described as absolutely amazing. In addition to being wonderfully lemony, the crumble topping was just lovely, especially around the edges where it had adhered to the bowl. The ice cream too, while being “just” vanilla, was so lovely and creamy, and clearly some very happy cows provided the milk for that!
We were meant to have had breakfast at Café Ish, but as we had so few weekends available, we just didn’t get a chance. Although reading back on previous posts it wasn’t me who said that I wanted to have the softshell crab omelette (I think that was perhaps TFP), Josh did offer to make it for us if we wanted. I was happy to stick with the dinner menu as I know that we’ll be back for breaky. It may only be in nine months time, but we’ll definitely be back.
LOCATION
Café Ish
82 Campbell Street
Surry Hills
Sydney
Tel: (02) 9281 1312
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Other than that, how’s the diet going?
Goddam that looks like a fine cup of coffee …
Hey guys thanks for the write up. Look forward to seeing you in nine months for that omlette
Hmm, yes, diet … what’s that again?
The Donga, yes it was indeed a good cup of coffee, and the diet starts now!
Josh, thanks, looking forward to it!
Oh my goodness. That food all looks amazing. I think I would have gone with Carolines choice. The description sounded great
The thing is I like barramundi, and with it being an Aussie fish we don’t get it in South Africa, so when I get the chance I have it, but in all honesty I probably should have had the chicken!
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