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My favourite place: Piccos Kitchen, Maylands

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As regular readers will know, I like to try new places and only return to a restaurant when there’s something on offer that I can’t get anywhere else. With this in mind, it took me somewhat by surprise when we discovered Piccos Kitchen in Maylands last year, as the food and service has taken us back there time after time for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Located somewhat unglamorously between a laundromat and a deli, Piccos would best be described as an “intimate” restauarant, and there’s seating for around 30 including a few tables outside. On entering, you will be warmly greeted by Marissa or one of her staff, who have somehow been trained to always provide the perfect level of attentiveness. Piccos is one of those rare places where they actually do want to get to know you, and make the effort to remember your name.

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We usually go to Piccos for breakfast but our most recent visit was for Valentine’s Day dinner, where Chef Adam created a special five course menu with enough choices to satisfy most diners. The restaurant was specially re-arranged to accomodate couples, and there were about 15 tables. Each diner received a rolled-up copy of the evening’s menu tied with a ribbon, a simple touch but one that demonstrates the care taken.

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Every course was as good as the last – with the last being a perfect, oozing chocolate fondant – and it’s a shame that it was too dark to take photos without a flash for most of the evening. You can see plenty of pictures on their Facebook page, and the photo above is of my baked brie (how did they know that baked cheese is one of my most favourite things?) Most amazingly, this meal cost a mere $75 per head for five courses. We left with no doubt that they can’t be in this for the money – passion and care is well and truly on show.

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I could go on about how good the breakfasts are (great coffee, the bacon egg & brie butty, the best scrambled eggs in town – when they’re on the menu HINT HINT) or the amazing pate and terrines from their popular Poach Pear range, but I’ll let you experience them for yourself. I don’t have many photos to show, that’s because when there I’m too busy enjoying myself. There are plenty of photos and sample menus to see on Facebook and Urbanspoon.

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Piccos is open for breakfast 7 days a week and dinner on Thursday and Friday only – I’d suggest making a booking as tables go fast. The dinner menus change every day, and usually include a range of pasta, fish, meat and vegetarian dishes at around $25-$35. The counter fridge is always well stocked with pies, sandwiches, salads etc and you will come face to face with a tempting selection of gourmet cakes & tarts.  There’s also a thoughtful kids menu, so don’t be afraid to take the family.

As the title says, Piccos is my favourite place, and it’s been one of those “secrets” that you want to tell everyone about but at the same time desperately want to keep to yourself – hence why I haven’t reviewed it until now. Piccos Kitchen receives my highest recommendation.

Piccos Kitchen on Urbanspoon

Awesome Doctor Who cookie cutters!

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Check out this awesome range of Doctor Who cookie cutters that includes a TARDIS, Cyberman and Weeping Angel – available for a very reasonable $6.50 each!

(via That’s Nerdalicious)

Macca’s testing table service in NSW

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The Illawarra Mercury has reported that McDonald’s is currently testing table service in Warilla, New South Wales. The trial has been approved by McDonald’s USA headquarters, and will run over a limited five week period. During this time, anyone ordering a Grand Angus, Big Mac or Chicken Deluxe meal on a Monday or Tuesday between 5pm and 8pm will have the option of having it delivered to their table on a china plate with cutlery. This idea came about after the franchisees served their parents in this way and other diners asked how they could order that!

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The Warilla store has also been testing a mobile app that allows people to order food in advance, so this is obviously a very forward-thinking restaurant. If you’ve been there – or tried the table service – let us know what you thought in the comments.

(images from Illawarra Mercury and Sky News)

Pizza Hut Singapore “Ring of Fortune” Pizza

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Pizza Hut Singapore is celebrating Chinese New Year with the release of its new “Ring of Fortune” pizza which is shaped like a coin (i.e. a normal pizza with a square hole in the centre). I wonder if this makes it difficult to cut…

The pizza’s toppings include a golden pumpkin paste with taro, pineapple, barbecue chicken, pok chui (crispy dough), and mushrooms. The crust features no less than three cheeses inside and out, and there’s cornflakes stuck to the outside just to add to the golden-ness.

(via Foodbeast)

Disappointing Breakfast Review: The Precinct, Victoria Park

The Precinct Restaurant in Victoria Park has been high on our list of places to try for breakfast, although in the early days it didn’t open until 9am which is about 2 hours too late for me. These days it’s open from 7:30am in the week and 8:00am on weekends, and today was the day to give it a go. Unfortunately it wasn’t a great experience.

I was pleasantly surprised by was the size of restaurant, and was expecting to have to fight for a tiny stool in a corner much like The Tuck Shop Cafe or nearby The Imp. It was by no means empty, but there were still plenty of tables available. It was a bit strange that we had to wait to be seated by the lady who was busy running the till, but there you go. Maybe I’m getting old, but the music was far too loud, especially for breakfast.

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Starting with coffee, my cappuccino looked impressive but it was thin, weak and way too milky. Renay’s latte was much the same.

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I ordered the full breakfast ($22), that looked interesting at first glance but didn’t hit the mark. The “sous vide scrambled eggs” were slimy in texture, didn’t really taste of anything and most definitely lacked seasoning (I’ll keep getting my normally cooked scrambled eggs from Picco’s Kitchen and West End Deli, thanks). The small bacon was thick-ish cut, but there wasn’t a lot of it. The triangular hashbrowns were hard to describe, other than odd and unpleasant. This isn’t the place to rant about gourmet beans, and while I applaud their attempt to make them look like a cute pot of “normal” beans, what is the point when they’re hard and tasteless? The pork sausages were tasty albeit a little underdone (I think some diners would have sent them back) and I must say that the black splodge of black pudding was quite delicious. The small piece of toast looked like an afterthought and wasn’t sufficient for a full breakfast.

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Renay decided to try the yummy-sounding “peanut butter, bacon, banana toasty” ($10), and unfortunately decided to add a serving of hashbrowns. There was nothing wrong with the toasty, it tasted exactly as described but that was where it ended and we couldn’t really think of any other comments. Completely forgettable. A popular item on other tables was waffles with maple syrup and a white chocolate “egg”, which looked like gooey white chocolate cleverly served in some kind of egg shell and seemed to be confusing quite a few diners.

It’s all very well having a fussy and adventurous menu if your food delivers but today it just didn’t. We were both disappointed with our meals and won’t be going back.

The Precinct on Urbanspoon

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