Nestled away on Phillip Street in Parramatta is a homely and tasty Italian restaurant Nonna Maria’s Place. New owners took over a few months ago and have turned this restaurant into a must try!

If you’re looking for famous home-made family recipes deliciously prepared the traditional Italian way, then you will not be disappointed. The menu is simple and yet it offers something for everyone. Why not try the smooth Penne Napolitana, or if Spaghetti Bolognese is more your style then jump on board, you are guaranteed to lick your plate clean. If you feel like something more meaty, then the mouth watering Chicken Schnitzel served with fresh lemon may be the way to go or for a hearty meal. I recommend the scrumptious Osso Buco. The sides are enticing whether it’s the Minestrone Soup, Italian salad, or Garlic bread to accompany the meal.

The restaurant itself is warm and cosy. Dom, who isn’t short of a yarn, makes you feel welcome. The decor is authentic and reminds me of a little restaurant tucked away in the country side of north Italy. The prices are unbelievable, mains under $12.00. That’s right, no misprint here – not only is the food great, the environment friendly, but the prices are “cheaper than chips”. To top it off, each customer receives complimentary fresh bread and a jug of homemade lemonade, made the old fashion way!

So what are you waiting for? Whether you want to dine in or take away, you will not be disappointed when you try this food the way your Mum would make it!.. (if she was Italian)

What: Nonna Maria’s Place Restaurant
Where: 56 Phillip Street, Parramatta
Phone: 02 9689 1112
Mains: Under $12.00

East Newcastle has an irresistible pull. It’s basically Bondi… 70 years ago.   Wide and sleepy streets are sunlit by blue unclouded weather, bikini babes and muscle cars, melting ice-cream and the perfect little beachside cafe.

A block back from the beach is Scotties, Two Flat White’s tip for breakfast or dinner if you find yourself anywhere near Newcastle Beach. With its palm-shaded courtyard nook off Scott street, Scotties has come a long way from the battered sav & scallop style of fish and chippery it once was. Professionals on their laptops sipping frothy cappuccinos in the dappled shade seem just as at home as kids in boardies with their parents lugging sandy towels and negotiating bulky strollers.

Chef Jeramie Heywood’s menu spans the spectrum of accessible comfort food to hoity toity (Hiramasa kingfish, anyone?) with a focus on seasonal produce. Our tip would be to stick to the familiar fare. The fish and chips are still great despite the raging internet review debate which asserts the batter used to be better. The breakfasts are hearty (hash browns, avocado , sourdough, bacon, poached eggs etc) and the takeaway section on the side is replete with hamburgers, cheeseburgers, fishburgers, steakburgers and lentil burgers ($7-$9.50). Plus, they make a pretty decent coffee (Two Flat Whites writers need their caffeine.)

The service is a bit docile, but if you’re not in any great hurry the location compensates, and a pleasant morning/afternoon drying out from the surf can be had munching away. Dinner is a fairy-light lit affair and the restaurant is quite popular so consider booking to secure your table.   Being seasonal, there is an element of changeability to the menu though keep an eye out for Gumbo prawns in ginger sauce or snapper salad with green mango and sweet chilli dressing.  Seafood Sunday at $25 a head is rather tempting, and a good excuse to get into their interesting wine list.

36 Scott Street
Newcastle East, 2300
02 4926 3780

Article written by Estelle Pigot.

There’s a little place you need to know about.

La Boheme, in Grote St, Adelaide, was once a tobacconist and is now a perfect little salon replete with cabaret shows, gentle live music and a witty cocktail selection to make you cry ooh-la-la.

Cheeky burlesque on school nights, funk tunes spun from decks perched on piano tops on the weekend and local artists hang their work on the damask papered walls. Yes, it’s nothing if it’s not bohemian.

This intimate little, shabby chic distraction is Adelaide’s slice of gay Paris. While the clever staff shake up an American Beauty or an Absolut Hulk ($15), they will banter and flirt you into giddy smiles.

With a wear-worn chesterfield that stretches the length of the room, a rockabilly barman who hands you your receipt complete with a rose for the lady and a French-singing guitarist, there’s nowhere else you would rather sip absinthe in the city of churches.

36 Grote Street
Adelaide SA 5000
http://www.myspace.com/labohemebar
laboheme {at} iprimus.com(.)au

Article written by Estelle Pigot

Chocolate is not something normally associated with an ethical stance. It has long been the guilty pleasure snuck late at night in darkened kitchens, or secretly indulged in from a stash in the office drawers. It’s a food steeped in sin for being decadent, delicious and often the subject of glutinous greed.

But Rebecca Kerswell, owner of Coco Chocolate, is an artist who works in the medium of chocolate and she is championing ethical production and good taste with her strictly regulated standards of production.   From her boutique shops in Kirribilli, Mosman and Edinburgh, Rebecca produces organic, GM free, gluten free, vegan, and fair-trade chocolate. You practically become a better person just by eating it! Read the rest of Estelles article about Coco Chocolate»

Do you remember the floury golden goodness of the pastry treats of your youth? You know… when you used to eat carbs.

Fingers of gooey dough, studded with raisins and lashings of pink icing. Custardy slices, strawberry and mock cream-stuffed neenish tarts, what next is the question… rich gentlemen have it, boys, in-di-gestion!

Sorry, Oliver aside, we do want more but then there seems to be a drought in Sydney. We will now refer to it as The Great Cake Shop Drought and, I’m afraid, it ushered in the canary-yellow, crumbly, hardened pastry that has permeated suburbia.  I’m sure I don’t need to remind you this has been followed by heavy, too-floury cupcakes, soggy pastry, thin icing, sickly-sweet aerated cream-substitute and a general reduction of apple filling all round. Read all about The Great Aussie Cake Shop»

Victoria street, Darlo is no secret to foodies and inner city hipsters, well loved for it’s low key cool, it can be tricky for a restaurant to make its mark on this popular Sydney eat street. 

One serious contender is Palette.   Opening it’s doors just this year, management doesn’t seem to be sure if it wants to be a wine bar, a loungey café or a restaurant, fortunately it fails at neither. Read all about the Palette Restaurant & Bar»

Two Flat Whites recently visited Brisbane hotspot Jade Buddha and the Shadow Lounge.

Perched on prime inner-city real estate, on a deck overhanging the Brisbane river with views of the glowing Storey Bridge, Jade Buddha restaurant is still a restauraunt that gets a lot of air time amongst the cool set in Brisneyland.   However, a quick Google search reveals the interwebz has not taken kindly to this restaurant.  It has has copped a serious bashing in the review stakes,  so unique in its relentlessly scathing remarks,  you would wonder why anyone goes there at all. But the locals are loyal in the sunshine state and Two Flat Whites was not going to be deterred! Read all about the Jade Buddha & Shadow Lounge»

Sydney’s Quay restaurant is the 27th best restaurant in the world and Australia’s finest. The restaurant, which debuted at No.46 last year, leaped 19 places to its new ranking on the S.Pellegrino World’s 50 Best Restaurants awards, announced in London overnight.

Tetsuya’s was the only other Australian restaurant to make the top 50, dropping to No.38. But two other restaurants – Marque of Sydney and Attica of Melbourne – were also picked at No.67 and No.73 respectively in the top 100, with Marque being honoured with the Restaurant Breakthrough Award. Greg Doyle’s Pier, which debuted in the top 100 at No. 94 last year, did not make it into the list this year.

Famed Spanish restaurant elBulli lost its crown after four years at the top, beaten to the number one spot by rising star Noma in Copenhagen.

The S.Pellegrino World’s Top 10 for 2010 is below. Click here to see the Top 100

1 Noma -Denmark (▲2) +45 3296 3297 noma.dk

2 El Bulli -Spain (▼1) + 34 972 150 457 elbulli.com

3 The Fat Duck -UK (▼1) +44 (0) 1628 580 333 thefatduck.co.uk

4 El Celler de Can Roca -Spain (▲1)+34 972 22 21 57 cellercanroca.com

5 Mugaritz -Spain (▼1) +34 943 522 455 mugaritz.comx

6 Osteria Francescana -Italy (▲7) +39 (0)59 210 118 osteriafrancescana.it

7 Alinea -USA (▲3) +1 312-867-0110 alinea-restaurant.com

8 Daniel -USA (▲33) +1 212 288 0033 danielnyc.com

9 Arzak -Spain (▼1) +34 943 78456 arzak.es

10 Per Se -United States (▼4) +1212 823 9335 perseny.com

A friend and I strolled down King Street Newtown recently and spotted Cicciolina Italian Restaurant and Pizzeria. From the moment you peer through its wide windows, this modern Italian restaurant has a real elegant feel, slightly at odds with its namesake. Italy’s most famous porn star Cicciolina flashed during a political speech and even offered herself to Osama Bin Laden!

The attentive service was simply superb. Our waitress was magnificent. As you turned your attentions around the restaurant you notice very simple décor, colours very easy on the eyes and dinner music setting the scene. Its show piece is a bar stacked to the rafters smack bang in the middle of the room with its old wooden Venetian style.

With a wide selection of traditional meals on offer, pastas, pizzas, seafood and risotto which all looked absolutely delicious and tasty, I began with the Crumbed Bocconcini; deep-fried crumbed bocconcini served with radicchio and a creamy gorgonzola sauce. This cheese is described by its Italian name which means small mouthfuls and that is exactly what you want to do while engulfing this mouth watering dish. For the main, I tried the Penne Boscaiolla sautéed bacon, mushrooms, and shallots in a white wine cream sauce which was equally as tantalizing.

The desserts from what I have heard are worth the wait, the menu offers Tiramisu, Gelato, Crème Brulee and much much more. There is an extensive wine list and they even make a mean cocktail; try the Toblarone, you will not be disappointed.

Cicciolina Italian Restaurant and Pizzeria is not just a restaurant, but a dining experience. I will be back very soon.

Article written by Liam Gibbs.

What: Cicciolina Italian Restaurant and Pizzeria
Where: 224 King Street, Newtown 2042
How: Ph: 02 9516 1166
When: Open 7 nights – 5:30pm till late

Tucked away on the top of Broadway Shopping Centre through the maze of international cuisines is a charming Japanese Restaurant Tomodachi.

Tomodachi is the Japanese word for friend. The restaurant boasts a warm atmosphere, a place where friends come together to share a meal and good times, happy together like the fusion of Japanese and Korean cuisine. The staff greet you with a smile, are attentive and help create the relaxed and welcoming vibe.

The restaurant has one of the freshest and expansive sushi trains, so if you are after a quick meal before your film, it caters for you. The kitchen is an open plan, you are able to watch the chefs create there masterpieces. The aroma of the spices and sounds of the sizzling hotplates adds to the buzz. The décor is bright, simple yet elegant with dashes of red and white, wooden tables, wooden benches and Japanese style decorations.

The menu offers something for everyone. The Teriyaki Chicken was cooked to perfection, a little crunchy on the outside and succulent on the inside, while the sauce made my tastebuds stand to attention like an army of samurai warriors going into battle. On offer are traditional Japanese pancakes, all the regular Japanese delights and to top of the meal, why not try the rice wine or my favourite; the sweet and fruity plum wine.

Tomodachi offers wonderful film deals with the local cinema, caters for the romantic couple, family, group party or a quick bite. So why not drop by before your next shopping adventure or flick.

Broadway
Level two, food court
Shop 220, 2 Bay Street
Broadway Shopping Centre NSW 2007
Ph: 02 9281 6000

Rhodes
Shop 74, 1 Rider Boulevard
Rhodes NSW 2138
(Rhodes Waterside Shopping Centre)
Ph: 02 9736 1764

Article written by Liam Gibbs