Kindly Yours

This restaurant has since ceased functioning. A look alike smoking cigar adorns dessert - a cinnamon roll with an ash front! Crispy salt soft shell crabs already heralded what the Rocksalt could do, an echo of the benchmark that this restaurant defines as their version of fine dining.   With a menu extensively covering both seafood and the farm, it was a delight to try to find our choices of mains for this occasion in late May.  Eventually we settled for the  Wagyu Rostibiff from Darling Downs Queensland and the  Moss Vale sirloin. Both lived up to their articulated descriptions and our built up expectations arising from the source of the ingredients. Opened in 2012, the Rock salt at One Marine Drive is sited on a hillock near the iconic lighthouse at Wollongong Harbour.  It offers true blue Aussie items like the Bangalow sweet pork belly and Angus beef rump from Jondaryan in Queensland.  Yet there is handmade pappardelle , served with roasted butternut pumpkin, br

Lots of cutting and slicing ingredients for use in the steamboat - quail's eggs, mushrooms,tofu squares, meat balls and carrots. The tang or vegetable (background) waits with the vermicelli  (foreground). Shitakaes are popular in East Asian cuisine. Seafood galore for flavour and making the ever evolving soup stock even better. Deep fried shallots help to garnish the soup. Eggs are on standby for poaching and add to choices. The cauldron. Ingredients for a steamboat session are cut to facilitate easier cooking. Waiting for the steamboat to cook the stuff. Freshness is everything. Coconut milk sits atop a dessert made from black glutinous rice. Upside down pineapple cake.

The ocean welcomes you with an even more sparkling freshness. Depiction from another time, another place (side lane off the Crown Street Mall). Coffee pods are getting popular at home but there are also several cafes of repute and trendiness in the larger Wollongong area. Catholicism and other main streams of Christianity are still embedded in the Illawarra area. Winter may see most people indoors but many also get ready to go to the gym in Wollongong's relatively benign winter. Ink squid pasta is utilised with prawn infused spicy soup in Balgownie. Youth in the Illawarra area are well known for the performing arts, musical talent and rather high unemployment rates. A quiet moment in the lower section of the Crown Street Mall on a winter's afternoon. Having a conversation in one of the many parks that dot the Wollongong area. Sunset on an early evening.

Eyes on the Portuguese tart! Situated opposite the Caltex petrol station across Oakdale Avenue in Kogarah, and at the junction with President Avenue leading to the Esplanade at Brighton Le Sands, with a busy fruitery nearby, stands an establishment decked out in white and bright red. I initially needed a coffee on the way driving to the north shore of Sydney and had always wanted to stop by this place - Sugarloaf - but previously I was passing by there at the wrong time and it was already closed. So I made a purposeful stop this time around, had my Arabica and had my eyes opened to the delights created by Kurt and Wendy.  There it all was - South American empanadas, dulce de leche , vanilla slices, Argentinian caramel  delights, German   torte and Spanish  churros. A couple of Spanish speaking women were engrossed in their conversation at the next table. Although the cafe has the usual plethora of birthday cakes, quiches, cupcakes and pies, I