Badde Manors Cafe - Glebe, Sydney

It's hard to decide what to eat in Glebe - the area along Glebe Point road is full of delicious eateries. In fact, it's somehow like Paddington - but for hippies. This road strip is a melting pot of many cultures and races. One can see a seemingly endless myriad of people types - dreadlocked hippie girls, leather fetishists, even Asians in Louboutins. It's really an oasis in suburbia, lined with charmingly un-renovated old townhouses and fabulously dinghy second-hand shops.


This quirky cafe, Badde Manors, is arguably the most popular watering hole for many locals and visitors alike. It's probably the most un-pretentious cafe in the world. Guests seat themselves just like they do at their own homes, waitresses don't look like waitresses - they look like your best friends, and from the big espresso machine, it looks like an Italian cafe - until you see a middle-aged Chinese kitchen staff carrying sourdoughs he just baked while mumbling stuff in Cantonese.


Entering the charming cafe, the atmosphere of 60's cafe is unmistakable. I was very delighted to see this, because I hadn't been born in the 60's and I've been wanting to see one for ages. Mismatched furnitures, unfinished woods, old photographs on the wall - the works. The menu is very eclectic. They've got Italian, German, Hungarian, Portuguese, whatever pleases your appetite. And oh, it's a Vegetarian restaurant, so for us carnivores, it's a very pleasant change. They also have vegan and non-gluten options.

Rye bread
...fresh from the oven. Soft, warm, incredibly tasty and inviting.

Vegetable Lasagna
...with Portobello mushroom, spinach, and ricotta.

-> It's so delightful. I love the meaty mushrooms, and the portion is so generous, it's even too much for me. The salad is dressed in what seemed to be light balsamic vinaigrette and olive oil. All in all, it's a big, hearty, sumptuous meal.

Portuguese Custard Tart

-> If you think that you're in a cha chaan teng in Yau Ma Tei, Kowloon, and the food depicted above is a dan tat (Hong Kong style Portuguese egg tart), think again. This is a custard tart, with lemony sweet creamy filling. The other one you're thinking of is egg-y and not milky. Anyway, both are delicious. I love egg tarts. Or custard tarts.

What I learned from this visit:
If I ever decide to observe Lenten fast and abstain from meat, I know where to go. LOL

The Spaghetti House - Plaza Senayan, Jakarta

Had dinner at The Spaghetti House with my brother and cousin Mirna after a whole tiring day of attending the International Motor Show in Jakarta Convention Centre. The nearest place for 3 hungry kids to eat: Plaza Senayan. And The Spaghetti house is the closest restaurant to the parking exit. Go figure.




Garlic Bread
-> It's funny, but I don't eat a lot of garlic breads these days. Maybe it's because I think that garlic breads are so '70s (ergo un-trendy), or because it's just some obnoxious pieces of foodstuff that fills up the tummy before I even get to the main dishes. Anyway, when I go to Italian restaurants nowadays, whenever I was asked "would you like some garlic breads to start / go with that?" I always say "No, thanks". Or, I'll say "I'll skip the garlic bread, bruschetta, or breadsticks, or whatever you serve" beforehand. I don't know why I had garlic breads this time. (Maybe it's the extreme hunger).



Italian-style Chicken Wings
-> I don't normally say bad things about food I post on this blog (because it contradicts the very purpose of this blog), but can I just say that serving overcooked, measly bird wings with a tomato-oregano based sauce on the side doesn't make it Italian.



Nasi Goreng
-> Why would we order Nasi Goreng in an Italian restaurant is beyond me.



Home-made Lasagna
-> Ahh...finally...something Italian. I love how they add Ricotta cheese bits as well as the Mozarella.