Essenza
A sprained ankle didn't stop me from enjoying a really delicious Italian meal (albeit with a bag of ice tied to my leg by several napkins to keep the swelling down) at Essenza. I had the chicken kiev, which didn't resemble any chicken kiev I've ever had before, but was bloody good.
The staff at Essenza were super lovely and the place felt very authentic, I can't wait to go back there on a day I don't need to be carried to my table...
We were there for a birthday celebration so they brought out a medley of desserts complete with candles and sparklers when we'd finished our food!
The birthday boy was most pleased!
Sydney shopping
Before I left London, one of the things I knew I would miss was the shopping. London is full of gigantic chain stores, vintage shops, designer label stores and one off boutiques... it's not that I could afford to go shopping much, but it was always nice to know it was there. There is a Topshop, Zara, Uniqlo, newly opened Forever 21 and soon to be H&M in Sydney's CBD, so I have plenty of my 'home comforts' but I'm not 100% sure yet where to go for some really good (not expensive or designer) shopping outside of the CBD.
I tried to do a bit of shopping outside of my norm and ended up with a great pair of boots, some cheap and cheerful makeup and some, erm, questionable beauty products... see below.
The boots cost $79 (around £40) from Wanted, a chain here that have a real range of shoes and prices as well as a variety of niceness (technical shoe term).
Kmart's own brand of makeup is incredibly cheap, but actually quite nice. The simple, clean packaging is really enticing - I mistook it for another brand until I saw the prices.
The beauty products are all Aussie made (I'm almost certain); the face scrub is pretty good but I haven't been wowed by any of the others. The Swisspers eye makeup removal pads are not good - I was using the Johnson's Daily Essentials ones in the UK, which were far better.
Back to Mejico for churros
I feel like I've had a much more rounded experience in Mejico now because I've tried the churros. I had more delicious Mexican tapas too but it was the churros I was really interested in after last trip's disappointing tiramisu debacle.
So here is the rating:
Dough integrity: maybe a bit too dense for my liking, 5/10
Cinnamon levels: dusted to perfection, 10/10
Chocolate dipping sauce: needed to be chocolatier but very tasty, 7/10
Not the best, but rounds the meal off nicely.
Queenie's
I soooo enjoyed my 'Caribbean curry Tuesday' at Queenie's! It's only $15 and you get tonnes of food, including a coconut naan bread (which is immense), rice, whichever curry you choose and pickles/yoghurt. We also tried the fried plantain which was delicious and I had the Gwaan Gal Sour which is a cocktail of rum, St Germain, pomegranate, strawberry, lime, lemon, rhubarb bitters and egg white. I think I could have demolished about seven of those.
That's about it for now!
#amyinsydney
