Like my Mexico and Adriano Zumbo posts, where I invited a special foodblogger friend along to indulge in good food with me, this time I invited the gorgeous Priscilla @foodpornnation , and back when the El Loco Pop-up House in late January got around on the interwebs, we decided to come here.
El Loco has been quite a big name around the Surry Hills area. Every time I take the option of walking to high school from Central Station up to Anzac Parade, I would pass this corner restaurant, with its colourful Mexican wall decals and cheery $5 tacos signs. I would tell myself that I would visit it, but have never gotten the chance. So coming to the Pop-up House was definitely a great way to taste their food before coming to the Surry Hills store.
Arriving at the Opera House around 1pm, we walked for a while before we got to where all the action happened. It was definitely populated and most of the seats were filled up, despite the weather being grey and gloomy. The fun and festive decor makes for a great welcoming to the pop-up store, and we ordered quite a few things to share between us.
El Loco Hot Dog - $10
Carne Asada - beef taco, salsa verde, queso fresca - $6
Surprise Taco (on the rightmost) - $6
Not having had many classy restaurant-bought hotdogs before this (yes, those high school BBQ days, which are now currently the plentiful free uni BBQ events), the hotdogs were pretty much the best thing there. Heaps of that beautiful shredded parmesan, overflowing from the decently soft and quite heavily buttered bun. We even ordered another one!
As for the tacos, well, they tasted of Asian-style cooking, and the meat was a bit tough. Not really something which enhances the fun Mexican-spirited experience that the decor of this pop-up restaurant brings.
El Loco Salad - $14
The salad proved to be a decently fresh alternative, who doesn't love guacamole and crispy tortilla bits? :) But yes they did get soggy under all that creamy avocado-y goodness, but all was well, there was heaps of lettuce and beef mince.
And we never forget some good ol' Habanero!
We opted for some refreshing mocktails - The Fire Engine (lemonade and raspberry cordial) - $4, and the Tropicana (pineapple, cloudy apple and passionfruit) - $4
Sweet, and bearing the artificial scent of the flavouring, but nonetheless cool and refreshing, with their pretty and vibrant Mexican colours and awesome names.
The experience was great - lovely pop-up concept, and it would've been an even lovelier view if the sky weren't so grey on that day, but after tasting the tacos here, I don't think I'll be trying El Loco in the future.
We then opted for dessert at Yogurt World @Sydney Westfield.
This place is 32c per 10g heaven. Frozen yoghurt just doesn't get better than at Yogurt World. This is because they have absolutely every yoghurt flavour you can think of, and over 100 different topping ideas!
It covers all the flavours and toppings that other froyo chains have, plus much much more! And even better, you can choose to swirl one flavour at once, or use the middle handle to have 2 flavours in one swirl of yoghurt, and it looks really pretty too!
And yes, salted caramel froyo for the win. Nowhere else has salted caramel froyo!!
It was definitely a fun food-filled day for both of us :)
Wow was that a long title to type!
And my apologies for not telling you guys about my MIA-ness, but yes, uni has been getting quite busy with my many commitments, haha, but nevertheless, we're past halfway of my 12 Week Food Tour!! Woohoo, a few more entries to go!
So we decided to have a little family get-together, and what could be better than sharing it over lovely food? :)
Dad has had this promise that he made to us since Ann and I were both in junior high school (to put it in scope, I'm now in uni and my sister, Ann, is in senior high). He said, "One day, we are going to go as a family and eat cháo đêm" (night congee). And so about 6 years on, we finally get to go eat cháo đêm #betterlatethannever :)
We go to SuperBowl, in Chinatown, and the place is quite crowded at around 7pm-8pm. Hearing customers slurp some nice hot congee from their soup spoons and dipping in some crispy crullers/deepfried breadsticks/you tiau, it really invites you in :)
Seafood congee - $13.70 - complimentary you tiau/Chinese crullers
The stock is so flavoursome! The congee isn't thick and dense, but it isn't fluid and runny either - it looks and feels like the rice grains were grinded in a mortar and pestle beforehand, because the grains are very soft, small, and broken throughout the congee and that helped allow the balance between thick and thin, so just right.
Pippies in XO sauce - Market price
Addictive, mildly chilli, and the serving is generous, with heaps of XO sauce for each pippy.
Great two dishes for a chilly night out with the family.
A quick pit stop at N2 gelato and we get on some delicious Banana and peanut crumble
The crumble wasn't enough, it was a thin layer on top of the gelato, but in saying that, tossing in the crumble in the gelato might have made it soggy, so this was a really refreshing flavour :)
Another pit stop!
Takoyaki balls are always delicious street food - omnomnom them fish flakes and kewpie mayo, such lovely condiments :)
And then the Tran family drive all the way to Strathfield for another froyo run!
My sister A used to work at Yogurberry Strathfield, and so whenever Mum and Dad came to pick her up, they'd pop in for some heavily discounted frozen yoghurt deliciousness :)
Hahaha...too slow to take a pic of the froyo!
Tune in soon for another family fun day in my Food Tour!
