Spent most of today mooching around the City.. considering we had clear blue skies (the moon was high in the sky and visible the entire afternoon – weird!) and lovely sunny weather. I’m hoping the weather holds up through next week, when we’re at Port Stephens on holiday!

La Renaissance Café Patisserie
47 Argyle Street
The Rocks, NSW 2000
$$—

We also, randomly, discovered THE BEST PIE AND SAUSAGE ROLL PLACE IN THE WORLD. Seriously. La Renaissance Café Patisserie is a little French cafe, tucked away and almost hidden behind a small doorway. However, step inside and head towards the back and there’s a lovely open-air courtyard to sit down and have some pastries and cakes. We, however, opted for takeaway since every item is $1 more to “eat-in”, and we’re waaaaaay too cheap to pay the extra 😉 Besides, the weather was so lovely we were keen to sit overlooking the harbour and soak in the sun.

First off, delete all memories you have of pies and sausage rolls you’ve ever had in your life. This cafe does them different and they are so sublime they make your head spin. BY FAR the best pies and sausage rolls I’ve ever had – all hand made, super buttery and warm and utterly delicious. I can’t even begin to describe how good these are, but if you live in Sydney (or ever visit), YOU MUST TRY THEM!! I’m a big fan of pies/sausage rolls, and these are the best I’ve had in the world.

The Beef Burgandy Pie is pretty sloppy on the inside, a beautiful hot stew of chunky beef pieces and gravy with a tomato flavour. The beef simply *melts* in your mouth, and the pastry is really soft and buttery. So insanely good I could easily have eaten 2. The Chicken & Mushroom Pie was actually quite similar to the Beef one, in the sense that both were tomato-y. It was super soft and tender and much the same as the Beef to be honest.. so I’ll have to say I prefer the Beef because it’s harder to get super chunky beef pies soft and tender.

Also had the Sausage Roll that was UNBELIEVABLE. They make their own sausage mince, and it’s full of herbs and flavour. The pastry is also handmade and full of buttery goodness. The combination of the pastry and sausage mince is mind-blowing, that’s the only description I can come up with.

For dessert, had the Opera Cake, which the lady described as “coffee and chocolate mud”. It was lovely and smooth, but not over-the-top rich. Very lovely, but not as spectacular as their pastries.

La Renaissance Café Patisserie

The lovely desserts

Mmmm…

Beef Burgandy Pie (AU$7.00)

Chicken & Mushroom Pie (AU$7.00)

Sausage Roll (AU$4.00)

Mocha (AU$3.00)

Opera Cake ($6.00)

Our lunchtime view

Chris!

After that, there was some sort of Wildlife exhibition, or something or other. The lady was whipping out all these Australian animals, and let us pat them 😀 Too cute! Well, some were.. others were just.. uhh.. freakin’ scary and weird.

Super cute widdle possums!!

Scary crazy goanna

Grumpy baby crocodile

It was on to The Rocks Markets after that, which is always bustling and fun to wander around. Didn’t actually buy anything, except for this amazing soft pistachio nougat – I couldn’t resist getting a little piece, it was so lovely and soft and smooth!

The Rocks Markets

Soft pistachio nougat

Since it was late-afternoon after all that wandering around.. we stopped off at The Australian Beer Festival for some boozing. Haha I am just kidding. Only had 4 cups, and they were mini-sized! Also discovered my other favourite beer of all time – Red Oak “Honey Ale”. Here’s some trivia: it won Gold in the World Beer Cup 2006! Here’s their description: Redoak’s Honey Ale a pale ale which has been infused with a generous amount of Tasmanian Leatherwood Honey from the world heritage listed wilderness area on the west coast of Tasmania surrounded by the Nelson and Franklin rivers. It is a refreshing, light bodied pale ale with a delicate leatherwood and musk aroma and flavour, followed by a slight bitterness and dry mouth-feel. (5.2%) It was blimmin’ fantastic! Also liked the “Belgium Chocolate Stout”, “Our rich, velvety smooth oatmeal stout is infused with the finest Belgian chocolate, giving a full-bodied and irresistible bittersweet flavour with a rich chocolate aroma. This beer improves with age and warmth. Drink this delightful blend of dark roast malt and rich chocolate on its own or with your favourite dessert.” It really did taste like chocolate and was lovely :)~

The Australian Beer Festival

Chris next to the poster

Red Oak “honey ale” beer – one of the best beers ever

Little Creatures “bright ale” – this was yum too

One of the beer stalls gave me a cute tattoo, haha!

Bottom’s up!

Trying out Chris’ new Ray Ban sunglasses – they’re hot!

Bought these ROC sunglasses for 50% off, will be good when
we’re quad-biking/swimming on our holiday, as I daren’t wear
my Lisa Ho ones!

Ten-Sun Noodle Bar
Crows Nest Plaza
103 Willoughby Road
Crows Nest, NSW 2065
$$—

Quick dinner at Ten-Sun. This time, they remembered the “no beansprouts” rule – thank goodness. Ramen was spectacular – all tasty and hearty. Gyoza was so-so, a bit too oily. Rice was inedible, all dried out and nasty. That is all.

Gyoza, rice and salad

Ramen in soy soup

Vanilla ice-cream from the set