Adventures in Parramatta: Tour Guide

Girls Weekend: This weekend I played tour guide to a close friend, showing her around all of my favourite spots in Parramatta and surrounds.

First stop - after a lazy lunch at Manly (obviously not a Parramatta Adventure, it was a reunion for people who were in the trenches of Local Government at a certain time), we battled the traffic back west and headed towards the smell of charcoal chicken that emanates from the Granville Town Centre 24/7. Both of us were familiar with the tastes and sounds of the ultimate Granville Chicken - El Janneh, so we decided to check out Hawa Charcoal Chicken (43 South Street Granville). The chicken was good - just as good as El Janneh I think, moist and charcoally but El Janneh have the edge when it comes to the garlic sauce.
Yum Yum Yum.

Weekend mornings mean one thing - a lazy but awesome breakfast. After an IG overload, there was a pleaded request to visit my local cafe/bakery Short Sweet Bakery (Shop 17, 162-172 Church Street Parramatta - on Church Street Mall). We both chose the scrambled eggs with avocado and goats cheese on toast - me with a skim chai and my friend with a skim cap. After a relaxed breakfast we visited the pastry counter - ANZAC biscuits for me, a white chocolate eclair for Cass. She now understands why I am such a frequent visitor. Yum Yum Yum.
The eggs were perfectly cooked with a good amount of avo and cheese to add flavour to the eggs. The ANZAC biscuits were soft - they way that I like them but not strong enough in flavour for me. They tasted like they needed salt and a bit too strong with the bi carb...

I love the chai tea mix from Short Sweet............my daily morning drink...

Next stop was a few op shops that I have mentioned previously on this blog: Salvos North Parramatta, Vinnies North Parramatta and Vinnies Merrylands. No furniture bargains to be bagged, but we found more than enough books and kitchen knick knacks.

plus sized pattern.............couldn't resist for $1

love finding small timber bowls for dips and things..........

$2.50.........nothing more to say about that.

new Johnson Australia pattern

my new obsession.............recipe plates and dishes.

 

Didn't buy the head band - just excited to see my name spelt correctly....

Lunch was a pit stop and shopping stop at Stockland Mall Merrylands - the site of the triple threat: Big W, Target and Kmart. I have a sneaking suspicion that Easter may be here shortly..............

Sergio's Cake Shop.

Nice cannoli....

Dinner was a trek back into Parramatta - badly timed to coincide with the end of the Parramatta v Warriors round one NRL match (Yeah Eels..........). After realising we weren't going to get into some of the more packed venues, we settled for the awesomeness that is Grill'd Healthy Burgers. My "Hot Mama" was that and more - I asked for fairly hot and that is what I got. Mustard and Pickles was also sampled at our table. Yum Yum Yum.

Deciding that we couldn't fit in churros, we decided on an Aussie classic - the golden gaytime.

Sunday morning began at a more leisurely pace. Considering the number of restaurants and cafes in Parramatta - not a lot of them open on weekends for breakfast. After considering the limited options, we decided on Coco Cubano. I have been there for drinks and tapas and drinks...........but never for breakfast. I love the feel of this place at night - it opens out onto Phillip and Church Street, with over-sized leather chairs, bar seating and outdoor dining. It is just as nice in the AM..... Settled into a bar seat, I ordered Cuban Egg Toast - a "toad in the hole" type dish with an egg cooked into bread with tomato salsa and paprika hollandaise. I had this with a LARGE skim chai latte. Yum Yum Yum.

love it when you order a LARGE drink and you get a LARGE drink...

Really nice flavours in the egg dish

Love the use of the cigar cases as table numbers

This then brought around the end of our girls weekend and my job as Parramatta Tour Guide. I love showing people "my town" and them loving the places as much as me....