My favourite café in Sydney! Lucus makes an excellent coffee and the food is very good, regardless whether you are there for breakfast or lunch. But what makes the place so special is its location - this part of Surry Hills is delightful and great for shopping - and the café's vibe, which is very hip in a totally unpretentious way. On weekends it gets very busy and you'll most probably have to wait for a table but it's definitely worth it!

If the French Centre specialises in Italian, as is suggested below, I must switch to Italian because if I thought my French classes were very very good, the Italian classes must be exceptional! I've completed four levels at the French Centre and I've had three teachers: Céliane, Noémie and Anaïs. Céliane's English was average but it didn't bother me at all. If anything it made me pay more attention. Noémie's English is very good as is Anaïs', all with a lovely French accent, but Anaïs' level of English is irrelevant because the class is conducted almost exclusively in French. To expect that all teachers should speak perfect English, especially when learning a foreign language is quite sad. Also, if you do happen to miss something in class the CDs which come with the course explain things perfectly well. So, all I can say is: j'adore le French Centre !

We went to Sel et Poivre for our last French class for the year and had a wonderful time. Not only did we get to practise our French but the food was excellent and the atmosphere was very "French". Not the cheapest of restaurants - after all French restaurants have a reputation for not being so - but definitely worth repeated visits!

Approximate cost: $25-$35

One of my Xmas presents was a $50 Abbey's Bookshop voucher. I spent two hours there today leafing through books, weighing them, touching them, and I left having purchased a lot more than $50 worth of books! It's such a beautiful bookshop and the range of books is staggering. You'll find everything there from the latest paperback fiction to the most academic of academic tomes. Upstairs they also sell foreign language books and DVDs. It's a little corner of Paradise in Sydney so down with the Kindle and the online bookstore and five stars for Abbey's Bookstore!