Molly Coddle Cafe

@ 3/621-622 King Street

Farewell Blue Vein Cafe, hello Molly Coddle. No question as to if Molly truly exists, today we're too busy eating to bother with such trivialities. It's a busy Saturday morning and we're lucky enough to snag a table at all. It's outside. It's winter. It's cold. We order coffees. Then we turn to the menu. There are quite a few interesting ones on the menu and even more that are appealing for a Saturday morning catch up with one of my good friends.

"Is it strange if we order the same thing?" I ask my friend. "No, not at all," is her reply. That's what I like about my friendships. They're not particularl about things like that like I can be with me and my sister. We can't wear the same colours. We can't eat the same food. It's sibling rivalry. It makes us look like we're trying to copy one another. But friends? It's just a sign that we have good taste.

Molly's was originally established in Stanmore as a cafe/fresh food delivery service that has since found a new restaurant outlet on the St Peter's end of King Street this June. It's a grand spot for it, open and with a bit of greenery to add to the scenery. The food is a mish-mash of cuisines, there's some Australian, Italian and Filipino influence in there. Not to mention the cupcakes, the likes of which include Cookie Monsters and Grouches that look too good to destroy.

Lunch though was a Filipino dish. It's not everyday you get to experience this on King Street. In fact, this is the only Filipino restaurant I've ever known on King. It's a platter of sweet potato rosti and grilled halloumi. The presentation isn't the most fabulous, scattered around the plate, making it look emptier than it should, but the taste is authentic. Clean and simple, the flavours are subtle yet alluring and the plate is enough to fill without compromising on the dessert stomach. Good food. Good company. A perfect Saturday.

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Di Stefano Caffe

@ 67 King Street, Newtown

Quite a number of chains have found their way onto King Street in the past two years, most of them have been to the TexMex or froyo flavours. But while we lost (finally) Gloria Jeans to one of the prior, it was replaced by Di Stefano Caffe. A cafe chain that's based in Homebush, but now has a tidy little spot on King Street in front of the bus stop at the very end, closest to Sydney University.

It's in prime position and has a comfortable array of cushy chairs to snuggle into. The staff are some of the friendliest and are happy to answer any of your questions. The chai lattes are quite sweet to. The good thing? They don't use Bonsoy. Now for those who haven't been following my blog (I don't blame you, absence doesn't make the heart grow fonder when it comes to social media) I'm not a fan of Bonsoy. This has nothing to do with it being organic or a premium brand on the market or the fact that people "boast" its use in their coffees. This is because there is something in the formula that I am allergic to (my guess is the level of calcium carbonate in it, but who knows really.) Anyway, this means for quite a lot of embarrassing and arduous questions about what kind of soy milk the cafe uses and then a stiff regret for not being able to order a chai with them because of my reaction to the substance. Anyway. I was happy to discover that Di Stefano doesn't use Bonsoy. The waitress was happy to add commentary to the situation, stating that they had done a "soy" test and of all the soys they tried, the one they used (I think it's Vitasoy) delivered the creamiest results. Sold.

Though I haven't returned yet for more chai goodness, I promise I will. I just have a little more of King St to conquer first.

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Fringe Cafe and Restaurant

@ 199 King Street,  Newtown

Morning space was never such hot property as when Fringe appeared on the scene. For a cafe, it takes up a lot of space and is a popular one to boot. It might be the good coffee and fast service or it may just be the free WiFi which is also a hot commodity on the street and still a rarity though things are getting better.

Free newspapers and people spotting is also a bonus. I ordered up a coffee and a serving of toast with butter. Both came promptly and were well done. They did their best with my gluten free bread, it wasn't toasty but it had some crispness to it, which is a feat in itself. If only it would open later - so far it's only a morning and bruncher. Fringe, take note, you could do well opening your doors into the evening.

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Bean Around Town

@ 257 King Street, Newtown

Taking over Rise Bakery as of last week is Bean Around Town. The name sounds familiar, but that's probably because there's a similarly named cafe a little further down the way. We can ignore that. Bean Around Town takes much the same function as Rise Bakery did. It's a morning cafe in a skinny strip of land right next to IGA. There's some seating further in, but most will order a morning takeaway with one of the many sandwiches or delectable desserts from the counter. There's quite a decent array and it's truly tempting, but I'm on the run so all I grab is a coffee.

The service is stellar. The girl who greeted me was really friendly and, despite by aversion to chit-chat, she tried her best at making my morning a cheery one. The coffee came quickly, it wasn't searing hot, which, depending on how you like it, is to my liking. So that was good. It was sweet and hit the spot. What more can I say?

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Newtown Hotel

@ 174 King Street, Newtown

Yeooow! Newtown Hotel! What has happened to you? You've had a facelift! You've had a renovation! You have an upstairs! You actually look... fancy!

The building that was once the Newtown Hotel way back when then closed for over a decade due to funding/ownership issues before becoming Freaky Tiki - a supposedly temporary set up before it went viral - has now completely come 360.

A slick new paint job in a nice calm green and a balcony that is the envy of King Street, spanning a whole corner and then some is the least of this bar's impressive touch ups. The downstairs is still a little dark, but with deco style paintings on the walls, a motley of mismatched but alluring couches and an upstairs replete with movie and trivia nights are more than persuasive enough to enter the doors.

The food is your typical bar fare. We opted for the fish and chips and steak, done in different grades (mine in rare, my friend's in medium rare) and they came out about right, on cheap looking tinned plates with knives that didn't quite cut it (excuse the pun). For something that looks so fancy on the outside, I was expecting a little more class, at least in presentation. Well, one step at a time.


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M.O.A.N.

@ 224 King Street

I noticed this one crop up only a week ago. It was what used to be Ciciolina, the Italian restaurant with decent food, a BYO budget and the most gaudy interior decorations EVER. Pink on the inside, the decorations looked like the paper mache monster had chewed on too much newspaper and spat them out onto its walls in globs that stuck and had begun to grow into something festy and sinister.

Sadly, M.O.A.N. has not managed to rid itself of the paper mache monster. It has however added a pretty funky little chest table to its entrance, immediately already rendering it a cut above its predecessor. As for everything else... it's pretty same-same.

The cuisine is the same, Italian, specialising in pizzas and risottos. We arrived on a Tuesday night, which in wonderful tight-ass Tuesday format, meant that every pizza on the list was $10 each. Not a bad deal.

The service was great to begin with... then it started to slip. Once food was on our table we were instantly ignored. We requested a new bottle of water. It never came. We requested the bill. It took about 5 minutes and then we had to call them 10 minutes later after leaving our money on the table to have it picked up for change. And let's not begin to discuss our request to take away the rest of the salad we couldn't finish.

But onto the food. The pizza was good, well cooked and a good size for three small stomachs. If I were a man, I'd be disappointed. The salad was nice, but for something advertised as a roast vegetable salad it was severely lacking the "roasted vegetable" element. Most of it was overgrown with rocket. There was perhaps a 1/3 of a carrot in there and even less pumpkin and zucchini.

An improvement on its predecessor? Sure. But not by much.

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WOWCOW

@ 280 King Street

OK it's been two years since my last post. There's a reason for this. I've been away, in rainy England, enjoying myself and having a ball. But I'm back now. And, as to be expected, there have been changes to my beloved King Street. 38 changes to be exact. So expect me to be blasting up posts and eating up the street like no other.

The first shop I visited was WOWCOW. It was an easy eat. Frozen yoghurt. I grabbed a medium pot, chocolate and vanilla. Simple yet delicious. Extremely creamy and very sweet. I could tell from the first bite though that it wasn't real yogurt. It was sugar filled happiness. I relished it and the service was nice as well. There are only two things I'm disappointed over 1) the fact that it tasted less like yogurt and more like icecream and 2) the fact that WOWCOW took over the African food place.

Oh well, at least they still kept the map of Africa on the side of the shop.

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