This stomach is on hold…

For Five Minutes

This weekend marked my 42nd year on this world. So to celebrate, I had a four day weekend, where I ate a lot.

No one surprised? Good.

It All Began on Friday

On Friday, I went to visit my Aunty in Sandgate. The place she is at had a barbecue for a mid morning snack, complete with animals and half a sausage and bread.

They were not tiny sausages, and half a sausage in bread was heaps for some of the people there. Those who wanted more had their own ways of getting more.

One of the people working there asked if I wanted one. I declined. He looked at me oddly, until I said it was too cooked for me. Then he got the ‘not going to ask’ look and walked off.

I walked my Aunty back to her room and said goodbye. My plan was to catch the train home and order lunch from there.

The train got stuck at Roma St. After a few minutes of delay, I thought bugger this and got off the train to head to the Winter Garden. As I got off, the announcement was made that the train was not going anywhere and everyone had to change trains.

It was looking like I was going to be going to town regardless. Onward to the Winter Garden.

Or so I thought.

As I was walking down Elizabeth street, the less crowded way, I looked over the other side of the road. I first spotted a Korean restaurant, followed by a Japanese restaurant, followed by a Korean Japanese fusion restaurant. Guess where I wound up.

Wara Wara is pretty good.

I climbed up the stairs and found myself in a  lovely place with hardly anyone in it. I was then presented with a huge menu, two thirds of which were for sharing. As I was debating between iced nectarine or something sizzling, I saw something on the share platters that caught my eye. Wagyu Steak and Octopus tartare.

I asked how big it was, and the waitress said big enough to feed two people. Sure, I’ll have one of them.

“Oh is this table for two?”

“Nope”

“Anything else”

“Hmmm”

“Are you sure?”

“Ok, I’ll have the Takoyaki as well”

“Yes”

I played around on my phone until the food came out.

The steak was not minced very much, which was fine by me, and the octopus was cut up into tiny pieces. I grabbed a pair of chopsticks and began eating. I mixed the egg yolk through it as I went.

Raw octopus is a lot firmer than I was expecting. It is slimy, and it obviously tastes of octopus, but I was expecting it to be a lot squishier. Still pretty tasty.

The takoyaki was the same as the takoyaki you get at most places. I like it, but not worth raving about.

Saturday is a good time for eating…

Saturday started at the Rocklea Markets with a couple of wonderful friends who took me there and ate Langos and sausages with me.

I really like Langos with garlic oil. It’s pretty much just deep fried pastry in garlic oil, but it is really tasty. Also, langos and a short black are a great way to start a Saturday, followed very quickly by a bucket of sausages.

There is something about the sausages at the Rocklea Markets that make me want to get them every time. I think it is that they look like each bite should be the last thing you do before your heart cries out no more and stops beating. They are not that great though. They’re not bad, but not fantastic.

After a brief respite from food,  a small group of us went to lunch at Eight Street in Garden City.

As some of you may already know, Eight Street is one of my favourite places in Garden City. I love everything about it. All the choices, all the people and all the delicious food. As I managed to get distracted before reaching Okonomi House on Friday, I wound up there for lunch. I had every intention of getting something I hadn’t tried before, but this did not happen. I got what, after one visit to the one in the Winter Garden, had very quickly become my favourite. Spicy Chicken Okonomiyaki Hiroshima style.

I love this dish. I love mixing the egg and chicken and noodles all together. I love the blend of flavours. Most of all, I love the pancake at the very bottom, which has collected all the flavours from everything else. For a small dish it’s surprisingly filling…ok it’s not, but I have no need to rush out and keep eating after I finish it.

Topping the day off was dinner at my favourite place, Detour. I am always greeted warmly there, and I love that I have a table, table 26.

I got my usual, emu tartare, and I also got braised leek as well. I have raved about the emu tartare before. This is one of my fall back dishes if I can’t think of what I want to eat as well. The braised leek was pretty good too.

I was not expecting the braised leek to be as tasty as it was. Pork braised leek mixed with candied cashews is surprisingly tasty. The freeze dried leek garnish was also pretty good. It had the texture of seaweed chips but tasted of mild leek.

This was followed by pannacotta. The reason this was my choice was the bees. I love the bees. The rest of the dessert is good, but I love the bees the most. If I could combine the bees with one of their other desserts, I’d be in heaven.

And finally my birthday day.

My actually birthday breakfast was down at Lady Marmalade’s. I think this shall become a tradition from now on. Especially after being presented with a surprise lemon and poppyseed small cake covered in cream with a little chocolate on top, while everyone sang happy birthday to me. Even strangers joined in. It was a bit embarrassing but made me feel very loved.

I had a double smoked bacon and egg burger for breakfast. It was good. I use to get them a lot before the refurbishment, but this one was a lot better than those.

Sorry to the old staff.

It didn’t have sriracha on it though, which would have made it better for me, but it was still good.

I am going to have to start going there again more frequently.

Dinner for my birthday was gyoza.

I had been asked what I wanted and it took me a while to decide what I wanted. It occurred to me, on Thursday I think, that what I really love eating, more than most things, in a group is gyoza.

Even when I get full, if there are gyoza in front of me I will keep eating. There is something about the individually wrapped morsels that i can’t help thinking, one more won’t hurt.

Ok, I have rambled enough about my three days of eating.

Have fun and eat well everyone.