Cafe Hernandez Kings Cross

Cafe Hernandez
60 Kings Cross Rd Potts Point NSW
9331 2343
Open 24/7/365

This is my favourite coffee shop in Sydney. Cafe Hernandez  is open 24 hours and hasn't closed its doors since 1974. The cafe is located just off the main thoroughfare of Kings Cross, it a nice little place to escape too for to talk with a friend or when in a need of some serious coffee hit after hitting the clubs and bars in the local area.   Cafe Hernandez is famous for its Spanish blend of coffee beans.which combines over 6 different individual bean varieties including Columbian and caramel espresso beans. The decor of the cafe is very casual and looks like it has not t changed since the day the cafe was open, there are  walls are covered in original oil painting, and there is also a piano which the owner is happy for you to play, but the serious business happens behind it where the roasting happens, and where all the various beans are stored and displayed on the wall. The staff are always very friendly, and are experts at making the perfect coffee. There is a selection of ever changing menu of cakes and tarts in a display case next to the counter. My daily coffee a soy flat white come from here every morning,  but sometimes I head in late at night  around 2- 3 am when I need  few extra hours of study. at that time the cafe is popular with taxi drivers, who pull up out front and calm the tables and chairs around the entrance. personally i like to sit at the table near the window and contemplate getting  through the work needed...

                                           Owner roasting the beans

                                          soy flat white my daily need...
                                          Michael

Blue Mountain

Hi, I’m Alexia, I am a student in Macquarie University. During term break, I was gone to Blue Mountain. As I know, the blue mountain is a magical place any time of the year. Glowing in autumn, cool in winter, colourful in spring and refreshing in summer. The greater blue mountains was inscribed on the world Heritage List in 2000 and was one of 15 world Heritage places included in the national Heritage List on 21 May 2007.

In my own opinion, it’s a good way to challenge myself, the element and the clock as I ride through Capertee valley, with its sandstones diffs and abundant wildlife during the Capertee challenge.

Then there’s Blackheath rhododendron festival, not to mention the many village festival such as the love Lawson festival, celebrate Lithgow, Leura village fair and Glenbrook spring festival.

The third one is the Botanic Garden, Mount Tomah. The blue mountains botanic garden is located in the world heritage listed greater blue mountains on the summit of a basalt-capped peak, 1000 metres above the world, particularly the southern hemisphere, and is the “cool climate garden” of the royal Botanic Gardens Trust.  There have all kinds of the flowers and the plants, makes me feel very well.  And it is about 120 kilometres west of Sydney, cover an area of 18.3 hectares and comprise both exotic planting of rhododendrons, azaleas and other deciduous trees and pristine native bushland.

In the night, I was in the themed party supplies, there is a place to shop for a simple solution to your party planning, and we choose the theme that we are interested in first, the reason for that is to make sure that we got a fantastic and fun time without the hassle. There have 30 themes to choose from which can be ordered securely on-line and delivered promptly to our door. At smart-e-parties the director put all the friends together entire themed party ensemble including tableware, decorations and games. That’s a really fantastic night, I  enjoyed it and shared happiness with my fridends.

Michael's Old School Pub Crawl in East Sydney

These three hotels are my favourites east of the CBD. I have put them all together because often I can end up going to all them in one afternoon or evening.These hotels were built in the 19^th and 20^th century, and still show enduring elements of these times in the way they are run today. They all have something unique in their charm and hopefully you will find refreshingly different to most of the pubs hotels in Sydney today.

East Sydney hotel

Corner of crown and Cathedral streets, Woolloomooloo

Opened in 1856 this is the oldest continually licenced hotel in Sydney. The hotel slogan is “the last country pub in Sydney”. This is reflected in that the East Sydney is the only hotel in Sydney without walls of television screens and poker machines.  This ensures that the culture of the pub remains old school. The soundtrack to this pub is old blues or jazz playing in the background. Discussions going on between patrons and staff is friendly, where people from the neighbourhood often drop in with their dogs, which make themselves at home in a relaxed atmosphere.

 The front room remains traditional whereas the dining room at the back is a glass covered atrium with a feeling of being outside with large tables and a pool table. There are also tables on the street level outside which you can to watch the world go by. I find the pub a place of comfort and often take a book to read while enjoying a beer, it is probably the only pub I could study in, due to its relaxed atmosphere. The pub is a short walk from the art gallery of NSW, so I find is a good spot to read the catalogue about the exhibitions that are showing. Beer prices are not the cheapest, with prices from $5.60 for local brew but increase with many boutique beers on offer. This is simply because of they are not subsisted by the poker machines or tab facilities. But for me this is worth the extra coin to enjoy this unique location and atmosphere the pub contains. We start our pub crawl with a few shandies (1/2 beer and ½ lemonade) $5.60, on a particular hot afternoon. Patting the dogs that pass us, and talking to some locals about their day.

Hollywood hotel

2 Foster St. Surry hills

Hours

Mon-Wed 10am -12midnight  

Thu-Sat     10am -3am

The Hollywood hotel is such a beautiful pub with its art deco style and gold awning, it oozes old school charm from the outside. Enter its corner street doors the front room is like stepping back in time. The room is very dark and dingy on the inside; the walls are covered in photos and newspaper clipping of owner Doris Goddard, who was a movie star in the golden years of Hollywood. Mostly the décor has not been changed in decades with the exception of the large spinning disco ball in the main room being the only modern accessory to the décor.  

 Hidden way from oxford and crown streets you don’t often find it a crowded venue during the day and this means that it’s a great spot to meet up of a few quiet ones in the afternoon. By night it is a different story with DJ s spinning discs to a packed room featuring one of the hippest crowds in Sydney.

The pub only offers a limited selection of drinks with only 4 beers on tap with the local brews  like VB and Carlton popular. And food choice is limited to just  chips and cheese. This is a great place to stop off and meet up with friends before going to see bands at local venues Oxford art factory or Q bar.

Today we just spot in of a quick drink before heading for dinner at the Shakespeare…

Shakespeare  hotel Surry Hills

200 Devonshire St. Surry Hills

Mon-Sat 10 am- Midnight

Sunday 12noon- 10pm

The Shakespeare hotel or ‘Shaky’ is the final destination, and where I usually have dinner once or twice a week.

The hotels décor and style upon entering is traditional, where there are spots to sit against the bar and a few tables, walking up a narrow a staircase is where the styling becomes interesting. The hotel is decked out with old second hand furniture. We walk into a room full of old leather and chaises lounges and tables. This looks like an old private club than a pub. To the right are two old guest rooms which have been converted into dining rooms with large old table and illuminated by massive antler chandeliers. This is where we choose to sit.  Other small groups can share this table as it is so big.  The You have to get in early to land a table because it is very popular of dinner.

All 25 meals on the menu are $12.50, all of which are huge. My favourite is the chicken Parmagama topped with eggplant, bacon, cheese and sauce, served with chips and salad. My girlfriend friend Sarah, and her friend Kelsie order; Salt and Pepper squid served with chips, and salad; and Grilled Salmon with chips and salad, respectively.   We order, Beer $5.20, Gin and tonic $7.00, and Bulmer’s cider $5.60 to go with our meals. This ends our old school pubs crawl through east Sydney, exit the pub and turn right and central railway station is a 5 minute is just down the hill. This is a easy way home for all of us as we

Michael in Newtown 2

The last blog that I posted to give a run down on my favourite pubs in Newtown. This blog is going to be about the best restaurants that Newtown has to offer. King Street is the main thoroughfare where all these great cafes and restaurants are located. The street runs about 3 km from Sydney University in the north to Sydney Park in the south. Getting there from the city use buses no 422 423 426 428 and M30. On the train at MacDonald town station near the north end, Newtown station middle and St Peters at the south end of King Street. My journey will be from St Peters heading north along King Street.  I there are 2 eateries that I frequently stop into to have a quick bit when out shopping in busy King St. these are where you can eat on a small budget and have a nice meal,and soak up some of the local Newtown culture. they are  Pastizzi Pasta café, and Thai la long.

Pastizzi Pasta Café

The small café is well known to locals were you can stop in for a quick bite and coffee, meet up with friends before heading out. The speciality here is the Pastizzi, but pasta is also served as a main meal option from $16.00. But most come for the diamond shaped Pastizzi which is savoury pastry with a variety yum of ingredients. My favourites Pastizzi are the chicken and mushroom, meat and chilli and feta cheese. There is also some sweet Pastizzi, which are apple, chocolate ricotta and cherry verities.  Pastizzi are quite cheap and two to three is usually sufficient for one person. The café has the most recently cooked Pastizzi displayed on the wall behind the counter. The café has communal tables, with bench seating, giving you the ideal spot to observe and watch the interesting people pass by in the street outside .   Coffee is good and strong too.

 I often meet up with family and friends here and we usually order a few at a time which chatting and drinking coffee. You can also buy the Pastizzi frozen by the dozen in bags. I have done this when having parties at home. This can be a quick and easy when entertaining friends or when people drop in unexpected.   

Thai La Long

There are nearly 30 Thai restaurants in Newtown so there is lots of choice to choose from. Most are about the same quality, as the standard for the area is high.  My favourite is Thai La Long. This is because Thai la long just does everything right. Having a lunch time special price of $7 you can pick from about 20 different meals on their lunch menu. The meal serving s is generous and come with rice or noodles.   I have been going to Thai La ling for about 5 years now. When use to work at the hairdresser’s across the road, I would ordered lunch every day from them. My favourite is Chicken Pad Thai, but Beef with chilli jam and broccoli has to be a close second.  I have never got sick of their food, as it is always delicious and served fast. This is a popular spot for locals, as well as Sydney uni students. The restaurants decor is basic with communal tables, where groups of friends can catch up over a meal.  There is a small courtyard out the back to enjoy the sun or chill out on a cool night in summer. The restaurant is BYO so bring a few beers or bottle of wine. Tables are turned quick as most are in at night to hit the pubs and bars after dinner or a show at the Vanguard across the road.  If you cannot get in to the restaurant don’t worry Thai la long 2 is a few doors down the road and operated by the same family with catering the same Menu and service.

I hope you enjoy all these restaurants as much as I have, please post your experience of these venues below or add your own favourite Newtown cheap eats to the blog.

 Cheers Michael 

Internet Relationship

Internet relationship   is a relationship between people who have met online,  The major difference from a normal face to face relationship is that the internet relationship is all the way sustained via computer, the relationship can between individuals in different countries, different sides of the world, or even people who reside in the same area but do not communicate in person.

There are too many different types relationships Nowaday. the most common is the internet dating.

Internet dating is very relevant in the lives of many individuals world wide. most of the people use the internet dating for the same reason. however there also has some studies done it for other reason, the reason for them is turining to the internet to look for romantic partners. Nowaday, thr internety dating almostly successful, one of canadan partners have reported that the dating industry bings in 3-4 billion dollars each year from membership fess and advertisement.

the advantages for the internet relationship is to give individuals a sense of trust and equality, the reason for this is that the way people use online is easier to achieve than the face to face. and also the most important thing is saving time, people can sharing their ideas, thoughts, feelings online.

http://www.commoncraft.com/video-wikis-plain-english

 

 

 

Hello! Colin here again. I guess I'm joining Micheal in a Newtown adventure this week. Well not quite, a couple of friends and I ended up walking quite a ways until we hit The Abercrombie Hotel which is on 100 Broadway St, Sydney. Here's a photo a shamelessly grabbed from a Google image search:

I believe it was darker when I was there though!

So we arrived on a Sunday night at around 10pm of all times and it was surprisingly packed. The dance floor was the most full probably because of the decent selection of music (well that's rather subjective but I'm not a fan of most overly played radio music).

Fancy a bit of reading?

The less crowded area of the pub/hotel was the seating area. A great place to sit down, order a couple of rounds of drinks (and shots) and chat with mates without fully being out of it. I found the decoration pretty interesting, first bar area I've seen with an actual bookcase in it. Seemed to be a bit loud and dark for reading though so if you're into a nice quiet read, I'd recommend coming in around lunch time rather during the nightlife. Pretty friendly atmosphere too, I'd recommend checking it out if you're in the area!

Rather nifty idea having the alcohol up top, less bending down. (pity if you're short though heh)

The drinks were what you'd expect in sydney but not terrible. Beers were around $5 and cocktails/mixed spirits almost double that. Was pretty enjoyable getting "Jägerbombs" and other mixed shots. Reminded me of younger days where the shot glass is dropped into the drink. I'm glad they still do that!
Any who that's it for me again, I give the Abercrombie hotel 3 thumbs up! And well you catch you next time

Michael in Newtown 1

 Hi My Name is Michael Mlodzianowski; I am Student at Macquarie University, where I am studying to become a primary school teacher.  I have lived in Sydney my entire life, but I have moved around its suburbs constantly in that time. I am currently residing in Darlinghurst, just east of the central business district. I spend my childhood in the Macarthur region in the outer South west suburbs, before moving east as a 17 year old. In the 19 years since that first move I have lived  other Sydney  areas such as the Sutherland shire, St. George area, Blue Mountains, North shore, and the Northern beaches. Before university I use to work as a hairdresser. I started to recommend places to go to clients when I was working in The Rocks in central Sydney. As many of the salons clients were international guest of this beautiful city. I would always try to recommend places that were off the tourist track, so to speak. In my last hairdressing job before I started studying full time Macquarie University I was at the University of NSW where I worked for 2 years. This is where many international students would ask me  where to go out that was fun and exciting, but also affordable on a student budget. With that in mind I have many recommendations to share with you that I have enjoyed over the years. Many of my favourites from my later teens are still around, new places pop up and some become too trendy and then after the fad dyes off returns back to the original quiet or unpretentious local it had been for years before.  

Sydney is such a great city, some of the suburbs are rich with community culture and vibrancy and these venues that I choice reflect this.  The first of my blogs post is on Newtown.

NEWTOWN

Newtown is 3 KM west of the city centre. Newtown started as a working class suburb from the 1850’S. In the 1970 is became the choice suburb for any one that had an alternative lifestyle, this is still reflects in its culture today. With the bohemian still present in its attitude even though the price of real estate has drastically increased it has become a quite a trendy suburb of Sydney.  

  

In Newtown there are many hotels but my favourite is The Courthouse hotel. This is located at 202 Australia St, on the corner of Lennox St. This is just a short walk from King Street. The Courty at it is affecting known locally. The pub reflects Newtown’s bohemian culture, in its decor and style and colourful locals that are its regulars. The front room is looks like an old style pub with retro 1970’s AFL posters of players which dot the walls. There is a room dedicated to pinball machines with AC/DC and KISS themed machines and also an old duke box, where alternative and indie bands are favourites amongst its selection. The crown of the Courty has to be the large beer garden, located in the back of the hotel.  The garden is covered with large communal tables and umbrellas. This is where I like to meet up with friends and often run into old acquaintances. The atmosphere is inviting but very chilled out. The Court house has many locally brewed beers and ciders on tap and my favourite is the Bees knees or the Coopers Green Ale, which are $6.50 a schooner, or Bulmer’s cider for $7.00.  You can perchance these in Jugs for $16.00 where you can serve 3 schooner size drinks from each Jug. The court house also has a bistro where the usual pub offering is severed: including fish and chips; steak, chips and salad; and chicken risotto all $18.00. I tried the seafood spaghetti which was delicious at $20.00. The servings are really big so no need for sides or desert. If you only feel like a small meal wedges for $9 or Nachos for $12, theses can also be a starter and are great to share with your friends. The courthouse is a fantastic spot on a sunny afternoon or balmy evening when catching up with friends for a few drinks and a nice meal.

Other hotels in Newtown worth checking out…

The Coopers Arms,  as you enter the down stairs area this has the traditional feel but the upstairs the roof has been removed leaving an open chic contemporary courtyard area, for the young hip and happening crowd.

The Town Hall hotel or townie as local know it by has the latest hours of all the hotels. It open 24 hours a day! There are live bands on Friday and Saturday nights. Most late night revellers end up here…