Backtrack: Gardens & Pancakes!

5th August 2007, Sunday

After taking a break on Saturday, it was time to head out and tire ourselves on Sunday! First stop.. Paddy's @ Flemington! But this time around, not for grocery shopping, but to check out the non-food market which opens only on Fridays and Sundays.

Paddy's Market @ Flemington

Doesn't it look so much more calmer as compared to Paddy's on Saturdays? Haha... There was not much to see as there was quite a bit of repetition of what was being sold at the stalls but the things were much cheaper than the Paddy's at Market City. I'm going to get more stuff soon...

There's lots of things being sold... from clothes to toiletries, socks and shoes, bags and souvenirs, and nuts, candies, food and ice cream!! Yesh! Ice cream truck that says "Caution Children. Ice Cream". Haha.

So we split up to explore the market on our own.... and while exploring, I keep seeing and smelling something that everyone was eating. And while I was trying to figure out what that is and where I could find it...

Tada!
Plutodog!

Think it's giant hotdog wrapped around something... not sure what it is. But it tasted good! And seeing that Pompy got her Plutodog, I decided I should reward myself too....

Ice Cream!!

The ice cream is kind of like the soft serve available at fast food outlets but this taste so much more 'real'... Milky. Not artificial tasting at all! Mmmm.... ice cream in winter! It's cold but hey... I get to eat my ice cream SLOWLY. That is something impossible in Singapore's hot hot hot weather!

After Paddy's, it was off to the city for one and only purpose. FOOD.

We decided it was time to reward ourselves with some GOOD FOOD after someone over at Perth decided to 'show off' the sumptuous meals they've been having everyday. And trying to be 'competitive' (what's there to compare actually.. we have 5 excellent chefs here!), we decided to treat ourselves to decent good food, as the last time we had such stuff was the korean food at Strathfield (minus away the meals at the Gourmet Noodle House).

And so... we headed to Circular Quay for this:

Pancakes on the Rocks.
Open 24 Hours. 7 days.

The queue was much better than the time we saw it during the Aroma Festival. We didn't have to wait too long till we got a table... in the mean time, we just simply couldn't keep our excitement! We kept looking through the glass panels, scrutinizing the plates on the tables, checking out what pancakes were available, which pancakes were the 'popular' ones, which looked good etc...

Pancakes here we come!

After getting to our table, the nerve wrecking part of the day began... which to choose? Every single dish looked SO appealing, and we just couldn't decide which to choose, nor which section to choose.. more main dishes or deserts? Just the menu could make us drool.... Everything was calling out to us..."Pick me! Pick me!"

Trying REALLY hard to choose

Finally, we managed to choose 5 dishes out of the many many choices in the menu and settled for 3 main dishes and 2 'deserts'. And while we waiting for our food, we checked out the pancakes on the other tables and continued to wait in excitement and anticipation...

After what seemed like eternity, our food finally came!

Can't hide the happiness!

Introducing the highlights of the day... Caution: Photography of the food is enough to make you drool. Please make sure you grab your tissues!

First to be served...

Potato Au Gratin
(A.k.a. Potato Pancakes)

This was unique... coz its potato within the pancakes so it tasted like omelet rather than pancakes. But the grilled pineapple and bananas on the side was great!

Next comes...

Mexicana Crepe

Crepe filled with beef and chillis and... ermz.. I'm not too sure. Haha. This was great. I loved the spiciness and the sauces that came along with it. Mexican food never goes wrong for me.

Then came...

Tandoori Pizza

Exotic Indian pizza! The pizza was tasty, chicken really good, along with the cashew nuts! Most importantly, thin crusted! Only thought that if it was slightly spicer, it would have been better... So these were the 3 main dishes we ordered. We were quite satisfied with the food, but not THAT satisfied. Probably on a scale of 10, we were only at 6.

Now.... grab more tissues as deserts are next!

Desert No. 1:

Black Forest Pancake

THIS is it. THIS was the best dish of the day. I am so happy that I picked this out and Pompy supported my choice! Chocolate pancakes with cherries and icing sugar. Everything just melts in your mouth and the sweetness of the cherries and chocolate, along with the fluffiness of the pancakes... Feels like HEAVEN. Hahaha. For this, satisfaction just shot up to 9!

Solid chocolate pancake. Tasted almost like brownie!

Desert No. 2:

Strawberry Patch

Fluffy pancakes with strawberries and cream. Though I'm not the biggest fan of strawberries, this taste good! A little on the sweet side for the syrup but it still tasted GREAT! But I think the Black Forest kind of stole the limelight.. hahaha.

Pancakes that melt in your mouth...

The Sweet Babes!
Now you see it...

Now you don't!

NOTE:
To those at Perth: Don't be sad... we'll bring you to Pancakes on the Rocks should you come to visit us. Oh yesh.. and those at Melbourne too. *chuckles*

After the so satisfying meal that ended with fantastic deserts, we walked around the harbour as the weather was good. Sunny yet cool. Blue skies and clear water. Just couldn't resist taking more pictures of the Opera House!

Sydney Opera House

Babes by the Bay!

After much photo taking of the Opera House, we headed to our next destination:

The Royal Botanical Gardens

And as the name goes, it is definitely a beautiful garden. It's nothing like our Botanical Gardens.. it's quite different as the kind of trees and plants over here have lots of history and hence, explains the size and height of the trees. Also, the entire scene was just so.... erm.. warm. Couples sitting on the grass just letting time pass.... parents and their children playing on the grass... people sitting around sketching...

Basically, just a place that you'll go.. "Ahhh...". Simply let go and relax. Plus the weather was just great. Should really go back there and just spend my whole day lazing on the grass before the weather gets too warm!

We explored most parts of the Gardens despite the limited time we had (it closes at 5.30pm). Soon, Pompy headed to church while Sydney babe headed to see her Wei Yi Sheng! Hence, the trio continued to explore the gardens...

And we 'stumbled' upon a patch of grass where there were loads of parrots roaming...

Yes! To think that we only got to see them in Jurong Bird Park in Singapore. Here you find them all around... And I just couldn't contain my excitement. I plonked myself on the grass and huddled around with them. They weren't afraid of humans joining them! Haha... That explains the many close up shots I managed to take.

Then, after oogling and aahing at the parrots, we decided it was time to find an exit. While searching, we found something really interesting...

BATS!

Not sure what kind of bats those are but yeah... they were just hanging around. Haha. Yup. So we headed back to Circular Quay train station and on the way, were amazed by the beautiful scenery of the Opera House during sunset and in the dark. It was a pity Pompy and Sydney babe couldn't share it with us... Next time okie!

The night at the Sydney Opera House