The Q On Harris, Pyrmont

Our world has changed a little. Before when friends asked us to things, we would breezily accept but now life is different with a special little dog. She doesn't like being alone and we're slowly trying to train her out of this anxiety but until the slow process is complete our weekends are spent toting little Mochi around with us and ringing ahead to find out if cafes and restaurants are dog friendly. That's the way I found out about Q on Harris. Oh and the famous matcha cheesecake.

I was discussing the cheesecake with my friend JY. She had eaten it and heartily recommended it. "It's got the perfect level of matcha," she said. It was like Goldilocks looking for porridge. You don't want matcha that's too weak but you don't want too much rendering it bitter and powdery.

In the last year or so it seems cafes have really morphed into a place serving items more creative than eggs on toast. Q on Harris is busy this Saturday and when we rang to find out about dog friendliness they put aside a table for two of us in the covered courtyard which is nice of them.

Service is very friendly and we order coffees along with our drinks. They seem genuinely interested in how people find their food as we overhear them asking tables next to us. The dirty chai is not bad, not quite the same as the one I had at The Press in Cronulla that I loved. Mr NQN likes his cold drip coffee. Food does take a while to arrive but we got our order in just after a large table ordered.

The Kabuki Waffle is a single crispy waffle cut in half diagonally and served with three pieces of boneless juicy fried chicken sprinkled with shichimi salt. It comes with a splodge of wasbai maynnaise on the side which provides it with a bit of moisture (usually waffles have syrup, these don't need syrup flavour wise but maybe a bit moisture wise). There's also a small cabbage salad which really offsets the richness of the other two components. I would have loved the salad to be a bit bigger but that's a minor point as it is a great combination.

We are sitting right next to the smoker and they tell us that they smoke many things here from smoked salmon, chicken, bacon to their own house made pastrami which is what we go for. I dare anyone not to start salivating when this is put in front of them. There is thinly sliced pastrami, cheese, pickled cucumber, pickled red cabbage, dill, dijon mustard mayo on a buttery toasted sourdough bread. I only meant to have a few bites of my half but eagerly finished it it was so moreish.

They make all of their own desserts in house and there are three items on offer but we only have eyes for the matcha cheesecake. It's a beauty and just as good as I had hoped. The level of matcha is juuust right and there's a layer of white chocolate and lime ganache on top. The base and sides are made of Oreo biscuits. Holy heaven, I'm going to have to try and recreate this baby at home...

So tell me Dear Reader, do you think cafes have recently upped their game to become more creative? And do you like a strong matcha flavour or are you not a fan of matcha (like Mr NQN)?

This meal was independently paid for.

The Q On Harris

597 Harris St, Ultimo NSW 2007
Phone: (02) 8957 3527
www.theqonharris.com/
Dog friendly courtyard