Aroma coffee. 474 Gardeners Rd, Alexandria. Trendy looking bakery – there’s one in Surry Hills that I’ve been to (but not reviewed, it seems) and it seems a couple of others. Their work is of a really high standard, too.

Desserts: – flourless chocolate cake, lemon meringue tart, chocolate mousse and raspberry tart.

There’s seating around the outside windows for eight to ten people, and a big communal table that seats probably 15 people in relative comfort. With their location, they’re doing a lot of takeaway lunches for people who work nearby – it’s not unusual to see people walk out with a dozen little paper bags of delicious treats.

My decaf was pleasant enough, though it’s hit and miss – another one I try is a little burnt. If you’re here, though, the reality is that you’re looking for good food, not good decaf.

Coffee Roaster coffee. 14 Hartill Law Ave, Bardwell Park. I heard about this place from twitter when it first opened, and so I made a particular journey to check it out. It’s incredibly close to the train station, and yet seems to have really high standards for food and coffee. The owner remained on the phone for over seven minutes I was there for the takeaway order (business call) – not the friendly or prompt service I was hoping for. Granted, this was after lunchtime.

Inside, it’s a really interesting space: – there is a french theme throughout, and a mix of different seats that work together really well. The name and opening hours of the cafe are written in texta, it seems, on the glass – I’ve never seen that before!

No decaf grinder: preground coffee is stored in a metal container. The coffee, though, is quite okay: nothing to write home about, but certainly drinkable.

Has anyone had a good experience here to offset my own bad experience?

Movie: Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

From the director of Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead – Edgar Wright – comes this new film, based on a comic book whose title comes from an obscure song from a now split-up band. It’s a mix of pop-culture references, slacker comedy, romantic comedy, and 8-bit video game references.

Slacker-post-teen everyman Michael Cera is the eponymous hero. Mary Elizabeth Winstead (John McLane’s daughter in Die Hard 4) plays Ramona Flowers, the romantic interest.

The film gets off to something of a slow start, introducing the characters and their trademark actions and sayings before moving into the action. For whatever reason, a couple of people in our screening walked out in the first hour of the film – it gets more fast-paced after the first 30-40 minutes.

Though it’s not a relaxing movie to watch if you’re trying to notice all the pop-culture and other references, and there’s some content that is inappropriate for kids to watch, but mostly it’s a film for fans of comic books and nostalgia for simpler days of gaming.

Golden Cobra coffee. 281 Clarence St, Sydney. Takes its name from the history of the building – an old police station.

What used to be the offices of IMG at the turn of the century has been transformed into a little design arcade, gaffa gallery and cafe. It’s a little gem of a space for finding the work of emerging creatives.

It has a bathroom in the back of the building, very elegantly appointed, though missing the all-important hand-drying facilities.

The crowd are office workers, more women than men on this particular visit.

Because of the type of fit-out, there are a couple of little rooms with tables, and a 4-storey high glass-ceilinged atrium with great natural light.

Coffee – decaf is ground to order – is really good as I’m increasingly coming to expect from golden cobra. The staff know about coffee and are happy to chat.

Well worth a visit. Come for the coffee, stay for the gallery.

Website: Klink Cafe

Movie: The Expendables

Written and directed by Sylvester Stallone. This is a movie starring a range of stars from old 80’s and 90’s action movies, with ridiculous character names: Jason Statham as Lee Christmas, Jet Li as Yin Yang, Randy Couture as Toll Road, Dolph Lundgren as Gunnar Jensen, Terry Crews as Hale Caesar, Mickey Rourke as Tool, and Bruce Willis as “Mr. Church”, plus a bonus Arnold Schwarzenegger as “Trench”.

Statham is the only actor from a more modern genre of action films, and manages to hold his own with the veterans quite well, while staying with his usual style of action. Wikipedia suggests that others were approached but chose not to participate.

I felt the movie was too slow-moving in its setup. The attempts to add depth to the characters were variously laughable and a little painful to watch (eg. Mickey Rourke, whose character could easily have been omitted from the film), and – while some of the action scenes were indeed impressive – the film felt much too long for what it was.

If you’re a die-hard (excuse the pun) fan of action movies, then you’ll welcome the opportunity to watch an action film made with values from years gone by, but if you’re looking for any sort of complexity, you’ll want to look further afield.

You might like to take the multi-choice test that Nathan was blogging about over at Is your faith rational?. I was doing pretty well, but tripped up in the final few questions.

A little milestone for the blog here: tonight I posted my 500th cafe review post.

It all started with the little but great Seed Cafe (now closed) at Wynyard back on February 10, 2006 with my trusty old i-Mate K-JAM. Since then I’ve upgraded to an iPhone 3G, become a father, switched to decaf, and changed jobs twice.

It’s mostly been clear sailing: I’ve had one cafe owner ask me to take a post down (and I complied), and one ask me not to take a photo. I’ve been recognised only a few times, which suits me just fine: – I’m happy to review with as much anonymity as I can muster.

Quite a few of the cafes I’ve reviewed have changed management, or type of coffee, or closed down since reviewing them, and there have been a couple of cafes I’ve reviewed twice, but it’s been a lot of fun forcing myself to go to out-of-the-way spots in search of a good coffee (more recently a good decaf).

And the list goes on: there are still a few more on my “to-visit” list, and plenty more to explore.

Is there anything in particular you’d like me to add to my normal review “template”? At the moment, I try to cover

• brand of coffee
• address of cafe
• rough description of cafe
• description of the coffee – usually a decaf latte these days
• something good about the cafe

Am I missing anything? What’s your favourite cafe?

Golden Cobra coffee (Timothy Dalton blend decaf). 31 Oxford St, Surry Hills. How many times have I walked past here and not noticed it?!

Walk in past the licenced bar and coffee machine and your seating choice is green vinyl clad booths – if you prefer, there are a couple of ordinary tables at the front of the cafe.

There’s a big collection of vinyl records on display, and an old record player is playing the kind of tracks that wouldn’t be out of place in the film "High Fidelity".

Coffee is promptly made, and – though there’s no decaf grinder in sight – the beans appear to be ground on site at some stage. It’s a fresh tasting, smooth cup with a complex aftertaste: straw and caramel.

The meals are really well made too: from the specials board was this burger with fries ($15).

A really relaxed place to spend time. Highly recommended. Unsurprised to find that this cafe is the work of (former “Well Connected” owner Jack Sheen).

If you’ve been following my tweets over the past few weeks, you’ll know that I’ve been working on a sermon for the last little while. Unlike the last one, it’s on a more “Christian-y” topic – the working title was “How can I know I have been forgiven by God and belong to Christ?”.

Obviously this is a topic that is of more interest to Christians than to non-Christians, but I’ve tried to explain any jargon that was involved, in case you’re curious. What I haven’t done (there just wasn’t time in the format) was tried to explain why you might be prepared to agree that the bible is trustworthy, and represents the teaching of Jesus, and indeed of God – if you’re not at that point, then you’ll probably have trouble following the rest of the thread of the sermon.

At least one person has asked if I’ll be podcasting it so I’ve taken the recording from my iPhone (using Voice Memo) and converted it to MP3: – pardon the rustling of papers and the occasional bump of the lectern.

Download the sermon (22:43) (the bible readings were Genesis 15:1-6, and Romans 4:16-5:2.

I would – as ever – welcome any feedback you have for me.

Euroblend coffee. 17 Fowler St, Camperdown. Old general store, converted into a beautiful cafe space. Light timber touches. Fresh flowers on the table. Soft music piped in, and a lovely display of product on the shelves. It’s the little touches that make a difference – the wallpaper has real character.

Mains around $10, biscotti around the $3-4 mark. Water for the regulars, served in big jugs with freshly sliced lemon.

Large communal table seats 15, and that’s the only seating option – a development application in the window suggests hope for outdoor seating soon. Blankets are available for those who want to relax in the park across the street.

No sign of a decaf grinder, the coffees are churned out really fast, which is a positive for those in a hurry. Coffee is a little floury in texture, but is otherwise fine.