Guylian Belgian Chocolate Cafe, Sydney

Guylian Belgian Chocolate Cafe

Darling Park

Darling Harbour

http://www.guyliancafe.com.au/

So much for going on a diet.

They opened a Guylian Belgian Chocolate Cafe in the new Darling Park entertainment precinct. Theres also new restaurants and a new park in that area.

The cafe is quite big so I don't think you'll ever have to wait for a table.

They also sell a huge range of cakes, desserts, pastries and chocolates.

Milk Hot Chocolate

How cute! There's a chocolate seashell in each cup :) You just pour the hot chocolate in.

Mocha

They were also giving everyone a free chocolate with every drink.

Great place for a chilled casual catch up with a few friends :)

Now excuse me while I go to the gym. Bye guys!

The Good: Friendly service, spacious cafe, no waiting, great location

The Bad: Not much to fault. Just maybe those extra kilos you'll gain..

Hurricanes Bar & Grill, Darling Harbour

Hurricanes Bar & Grill and Sunday Night Easy Listening

Harbourside Shopping Centre

http://hurricanesgrill.com.au/

02 9211 2210

Bookings strongly recommended

Its that time of the week again- Sunday! Do you guys also have a love/hate relationship with Sunday? Its usually the most relaxing day of the week (sleep in after a big Saturday night out, brunch and do nothing all day) but its also the last day of the week and means Monday is around the corner :(

Sunday is also easy listening time! This week its all about One Republic- Good life. This song keeps me sane. I've been trying to read these damned Auditing standards but every single sentence goes on for like five lines and use fifty commas.. Gargh! Its taken all my control to refrain from throwing the Handbook out the window.

You know what? I'm going to do two songs this week since I don't have work tomorrow (muahaha). Neyo because he is such a boss.

So back to Hurricanes.. I'm sure everyone already knows that Hurricanes is one of the most popular restaurants in Sydney and does the best ribs (apparently) in Sydney. I must be really unlucky because that night my ribs were sh!t. On a positive note, the ribs are usually really good. These were too dry (sigh). Epic fail.

Half rack pork ribs, $29.90

Oh I forgot the obligatory photo of the restaurant..

New York Strip Steak, 350gms $33.00

Sigh. Perfectly cooked steak that wasn't mine. No fair.

Okay.. so for the past year I've been having an ongoing argument with a friend about whether or not the Pyrmont Bridge opens up.

Apparently, from an engineering perspective, its not physically possible for the bridge to open up because there's a monorail along the bridge. Well well well.. I prove you wrong! I have photo evidence that the bridge does open. In fact, it swings open.

For once I am actually right. Woo!

Hope you guys had a good week :)

The Good: Good ribs (usually), good location, must-try factor, fireworks on Saturdays, free mentos with your bill (yay!)

The Bad: Can be overrated, too many tourists, may need to wait for up to 2 hours if you don't book, 10% surcharge on Sundays, tables are too small, too dark to take decent photos, all the waitresses/waiters seem to be on holiday visas, dodgy toilets, too crowded and also quite impossible to eat ribs elegantly

Helm Bar, Sydney

Helm Bar and Bistro

Aquarium Wharf, Cockle Bay

9290 1571

http://helmbar.com.au/

Caught up with a few mates over lunch at Helm Bar and Bistro. Since the group was mostly guys, steak was the obvious option. Helm Bar does a $10 Tuesday steak promo so we went to check it out.

Sauces

I found that the steaks were either a hit or a miss. Some of us got really good cuts that were tender and juicy while other people got cuts that were fatty or where large parts were inedible. Each steak was served with a generous size of french fries and some salad leaves.

Since lunch coincided with my birthday... wooo macaroons :) Thanks :) you're all too awesome.

Toros Tapas and Bar, Spanish, Darling Harbour

Toros Tapas and Bar

Harbourside, Darling Harbour

9280 0706

My ideal start to a lazy Sunday morning is having breakfast along the harbour. Initially our plan was to breakfast at the Mecca Espresso in Ultimo but upon arriving.. it was closed! How disappointing since D had researched it and it was supposed to be open 8am-3pm on Sundays.

Anyways so our second choice was one of the cafes around Darling Harbour. We walked along the promenade and most of the cafes/restaurants were offering similar choices- big breakfasts, eggs benedict etc w/coffee or juice for around $12-$13- which is quite cheap. Toros caught our eye because it served 'canadian style breakfast'- that is pancakes with eggs and bacon. Sounds weird right?

We each started off with coffee.. 2 soy cappucinos and 2 skim cappucinos.

They sort of all look the same so I've just uploaded one photo instead of four. At first D & I were accidentally served the soy caps- which made me go 'this coffee tastes really strange'. But thankfully the waitress correctly it quickly after so we just swapped coffees.. Kind of awkward eating all the froth and then giving your coffee to someone else..

Big Breakfast - Bacon and poached eggs served with toast, tomatoes and mushrooms

The big breakfast is normally supposed to have lamb and rosemary chipolatas but I changed that to mushrooms- which was nice of the restaurant because I know some places are really strict when it comes to altering the 'specials'.

I enjoyed this. The poached eggs were great and runny. Bacon was nice and crispy. Serving size was fantastic, I could'nt finish it and had quite a bit left.

Canadian Breakfast- Pancakes with maple syrup served with bacon and fried egg

Voila! Looks intense huh? The three other girls ordered this and they all seemed to enjoy it. I think the sweetness of the maple syrup goes well with the saltiness of the bacon.

The verdict

I'll start by saying that the food was good, the coffee was good and generally overall it was good. When we asked for the bill I was surprised to see a $2.50 per head surcharge. Now this was unexpected. When we were deciding on which cafe to eat at there was no mention of a Sunday surcharge or any surcharge whatsoever on Toro's menu. It was misleading because if we had known about the surcharge we would have gone to one of the other cafes. I also think that surcharges (At least % surcharges) for Sunday may be illegal?

For us it was more that we weren't expecting a surcharge rather than the cost of the surcharge itself. $2.50 isnt much but its always unpleasant when you are hit with an extra cost that you didn't expect. I understand that the cafe may have higher staff costs on Sundays but there should have been a bigger sign or something.. The breakfast specials were advertised as $12 for the big breakfast with coffee and $13 for the canadian breakfast with coffee.. it didnt mention any surcharge. Anyways I'm not too fussed by the surcharge because $15 for breakfast and coffee is actually quite cheap and we we rent ripped off. But it would have been nice to know about the surcharge before we sat down.. And what if we had just gotten a $3.50 coffee? Does that mean my coffee becomes $6? Now that gets a bit ridiculous.

What do you guys think? Would you also feel annoyed by a surcharge?