14 December 2010

Top Juice: Biggest and best cherries I've seen this season, Westfield Sydney (10 Dec 2010)

Cnr Market and Castlereagh St Sydney NSW 2000


Best cherries of the season?

Thanks to Joy Leaper and Melinda Griffith from Liquid Ideas for sending me an early Christmas Hamper of goodies from Top Juice and Le Pain Quotidien of Westfield Sydney. I couldn't believe the size of this fruit hamper which seemed to have everything in it including mango, apple, orange, grapes, peaches, nectarines, dates, banana, papaya, passionfruit, Asian pear, massive strawberries, white cherries and huge red cherries and even a couple of exotic dragonfruit — it's weight was formidable. The large plump red cherries took me by surprise since I've been hearing so much about the bad season of cherries this year from readers in response to my Coles spot check although this doesn't seem to have affected the Top Juice offering. Seriously these cherries were ridiculous in size and thankfully were very tasty and juicy as hoped — I shared a few around the office to astonished faces. For such premium produce you have to expect a premium price and they're currently selling at $40/kg at Top Juice or $55/kg in David Jones Food Hall. Equally impressive were the strawberries with firm green stems and leaves still attached. They were nearly the size of the mutant one I found back in September but tasted a lot better — a Strapple as Kristy calls them.

Le Pain Quotidien — a name I have trouble working out how to pronounce — provided a large crunchy baguette and four Organic spreads. I don't really eat chocolate in the morning and prefer jam with my toast but the Belgian Chocolate and Hazelnut Spread is my favourite of them all — probably because it has a similar taste to Nutella which I've had before. I'm trying to think of a dessert I could make with them perhaps? I also received a $25 Breakfast Voucher which I'm looking forward to trying a croissant, coffee and maybe an organic omelet.

SNAPSHOT REVIEW:
PROS: Quality fruit that tastes good, Spreads are organic, Breads are organic, Open from 8 am for breakfast
CONS: Need to eat the fruit quickly in this hot weather before it spoils, Premium cherries are expensive, Strawberries bruise the easiest in hampers
MUST TRY: Fruit salad at Top Juice, Find people to share the spreads with or I'll become a human blimp

Fruit hamper of many different fruits

Size comparison of normal cherry (Hunter Street fruit stand) and Top Juice cherry
Good colour and flavour

Top Juice on level 5 Westfield Sydney: Premium cherries ($40/kg)

Size comparison of Top Juice strawberry aka The Strapple

Good colour and flavour



Le Pain Quotidien bread roll and organic spreads

Blondie, Noir, Noisella and Brunette spreads

Noisella: Belgian Chocolate and Hazelnut Spread

$25 Breakfast Voucher to use

Le Pain Quotidien located on level 4 of Westfield Sydney

Comparison pricing from David Jones Food Hall for premium cherries ($55/kg)

Sunny Ridge Long Stems Strawberries from David Jones Food Hall ($14.90/400g)


View Larger Map

8 comments:

catty said...

WTF are those cherries and strawberries on steroids???? They look AMAZING and I'm so jealous you guys are in cherry season now!

Mel said...

Yikes! That's a HUGE cherry - yum! I'll share the chocolate spread with you...sounds tasty!

susan said...

I want one of those fruit hampers too! I love good fruit. I hardly eat it as I am always disappointed as a lot of fruit you buy doesn't taste the best.

Zina @ tastedbytwo said...

That is an amazing fruit hamper! The produce at Top Juice is fantastic, albeit expensive.

OohLookBel said...

Can't believe the size of that strawberry. Looks juicy, too. Very nice!

Accommodation Hunter Valley said...

Yummy yummy big cherries. Look really fresh. Crystal clear snapshots. Thanks for sharing.

Accommodation NSW said...

Blondie, Noir, Noisella and Brunette spreads. Names are super cute. Love the look of Noisella.

Simon Leong said...

hi catty, one would possibly think so but i think they're natural — i hope anyway!

hi melbatoast, i've still got the spreads and not sure how i'll finish them.

hi susan, for top quality fruit your best chance is farmers markets, david jones food hall, top juice, fratelli fresh and even thomas dux (even though it's owned by woolies), oh and royal randwick fruit market :-)

hi zina, unfortunately all things good are usually expensive :-(

hi bel, so glad it lived up to it's expectation. a very special occasion purchase i think to impress your family or good friends.

hi accom hunter valley, my pleasure!

hi accom NSW, noisella is the new nutella :-)

Simon Food Favourites Map

View Simon Food Favourites in a larger map Key: BLUE - Location visit and review PINK - Simon Favourites and places offering something special

Small Bars in Sydney map


View Small Bars in Sydney in a larger map