Life As A Tourist Guide: Part I

So a few days ago, my Monash friends came up to visit and see Sydney. So I had two tiring, but fun days of leading everyone everywhere. 

Day 1:
We went to Newtown for lunch. Audrey always complains about being hungry. We went to The Pie Tin, just off King St on Brown St. I was determined to see whether the 100% rating on Urbanspoon was well deserved and I must say it was. Although I didn't like the flavour of all the pies I tried, I can't blame that on the chefs, but rather my personal taste. So I bought sweet pies (pictured below) to take home to my sweet-toothed mother, who pretty much ate all of them, without sharing, and we ate the savoury pies for lunch. I chose the Sicilian style chilli lovers sausage and white beans (pictured below), and tried a bit of the shredded pork with apple & bbq sauce, and the pork belly and pear pie. I preferred the pork & pear pie to the pork & apple as I think the apple was just a bit over powering, and the pork was nicer in the former. 

The savoury pies range from 5.80-8.80 in price, however, the prices are not labelled, so you only know the price when you pay. They also come with sides for $11-$14 in total, varying again with the choice of pie. The sweet pies are slightly more expensive ranging from 7.50-11.50 per slice. A bit on the expensive side for me, but definitely worth it after you dig in, slices are decent sized too. 
NB: The availability of flavours changes every day and during the day, so you may not always get the flavour you came in for, but as they are all freshly made, in the store, so there is no harm in asking, if you are patient enough for the wait :)

Choc Banana Nut Pie. 

I don't remember the precise name, but I really loved this pie, 

I'm not a fan of dairy and banana, apart from banana milkshakes and this pie. 

It was moist and light, the pastry was crunchy but smooth and it did not feel heavy at all, 

even though it seemed quite dense and strong, 

it pleasingly wasn't and I could've easily eaten the whole lot without feeling bloated. 

Topped with generous amounts of walnuts and almonds, 

I definitely recommend for chocolate lovers, that also aim to be a bit healthy!

The Sicilian Chilli Sausage Pie

Was quite lacking in the white beans department, maybe only had a few pieces in mine,

but the filling was still divine, spicy, but not burning. 

The sausages however, were cut quite large which made it difficult to eat with my small mouth, 

but the tomato based sauce was divine. The pastry was flaky on the top and crispy on the sides, 

not exceptionally amazing, but still top notch. 

Definitely a must try for chilli lovers like me! (p.s. they have other spicy flavours too)

Campos Coffee

I also tried Campos coffee for the first time. Ordered an ice coffee due to the boiling weather 

and I must say it was quite strong, and added sugar doesn't really work as it won't dissolve well. 

I did like it though, it was smooth and did not have the nasty leftover taste/feel on my tongue. 

But I am still to find coffee better than Melbourne.

Sultana, Maple & Fig Rustic Pie.

I bought this flavour as my mother loves figs, whereas I do not, 

so I personally did not like the content but I did love the rustic shortcrust pastry 

that was crumbly but moist at the same time, and rather tasty on its own. 

For those with a sweet tooth for dried fruits, this is a go to flavour.

Choc Strawberry Pie 

(kind of squished and melted from the long trek and weather)

My personal favourite so far. Very similar to the banana one above, but minus the nuts (pro for the nut allergies) and with strawberries instead. The strawberries were placed on top and within the pie, and tasted very fresh. The chocolate was just as decadent as the other pie, but I felt a bit more moussey and light (may be due to the strawberries being lighter than bananas) and therefore lighter on the stomach. I cannot give this pie anything but 100% praise. 

Blueberry, Maple Cheese Pie.

This pie was more of a cheesecake to me, which I am not a big fan of. 
However, the flavour did grow on me. The maple scent was quite strong, 
the same as the fig pie, and at first was unusual as I do not eat nor like maple sauce. 
However, the sweetness I learnt to tolerate and the blueberries I loved. 
The pastry was also exceptional, more of a smooth, chewy pastry, rather than a crumbly one. 
The cheese filling was very rich and dense, not a pie I could devour in one sitting. 
Overall, a hit for the cheesecake lovers and rich dairy enthusiasts alike.

After lunch, we wandered the streets of Newtown and headed into the City for Sydney Festival. We went to Festival Village in Newtown, I was so tempted to bounce on the inflatable Stone Hedge but unfortunately no one else wanted to :( So instead we just wandered around the stalled, got free waterbottles :) and had Gelato Messina.
They had a carnival stall at the village, stocking innovative carnival treats, all made with icecream, sorbet and gelato.

We tried the gelatofee apples, samurai fairy balls and eyscream lollypop. I loved the green apple sorbet in the gelatoffee apples as I am a big fan of sour. I didn't try the samurai fairy balls but it looked interesting. I chose the eyescream lollypop and I must say, it was disappointing, considering how amazing their gelato is. The ice-cream felt store bought and was all icy. They did not make anything on site, and just took them straight from a freezer straight into your hands.The chocolate was really nice though, and the pop rocks in it, a nice surprise. I couldn't really taste the redskin or banana in the ice-cream, it tasted rather like mild bubblegum flavour which was still nice. 

The samurai fairy balls is a black chocolate covered ice-cream surrounded by fairy floss.

The gelatoffee apple was a chocolate covered green apple sorbet, all surrounded in a toffee apple glaze

The eyescream lollypop was a swirl of banana and redskin ice-cream with a backing of white chocolate filled with pop rocks.