Author: brensfoodadventures

My Aunty Margie made a seafood mornay that I loved. I have probably written about it before.

It was not a fancy dish, or an extravagant one. Just some veges, some seafood extender, and some sort of cheese sauce. Probably pasta as well, but I am not sure of that bit.

As I mentioned, wait, four sentences ago, I loved this dish. I thought it was great. I loved a great deal of Aunty Margie’s cooking. This particular thing, the seafood mornay, came to my head on Saturday.

On Saturday I went to George’s Paragon Seafood. I had a lot to eat, gee you all look so surprised by this, but there are two things I want to focus on. Bugs and lobster. I love bugs. I can, and will, eat loads of bugs given the chance (yes both the Moreton bay bugs and the small insects covered in chocolate, this is about the Moreton bay bugs specifically). I have not always been a big fan of lobster though.

On Saturday night, I had both bugs and lobster. Bugs, followed by lobster. I have never had them at the same time. I thought maybe that my lack of appreciation for lobster was because I had had bugs first and that left a lasting impression on my palate.

The challenge was set to go. I had three bugs, halves but my rant about that is for another time, vs a lobster thermidor. I had other things as well, it was all good, definitely going back at some point.

Oh yeah, quick side note, scallops were good, but have I mentioned GOMA though I don’t think you can get them there anymore so George’s Paragon Seafood is a pretty good substitute.

Anyway, I had the bugs. They were delicious. I am pretty sure there was a dipping sauce, but I’m not sure I used it. I love bugs flavour on its own. Three halves, stacked, steaming, some other stuff on the plate, who cares there are bugs. For a few seconds. Then, empty shells, and a big smile. Bugs have a certain sweetness to them which makes them taste great. Sometimes there are sauces that go really well with the flavour, oh yeah I think there was something I dipped them in. It went really well with the flavour, how about that. I ate the bugs, leant back in my chair, and let let the flavour roll around my mouth for a while. Until the lobster came.

I have had lobster before. I wasn’t impressed. I didn’t hate it, I just didn’t think it was that great.  I thought of it as an excuse to eat garlic butter. I still kind of do, but a really good one.

On the menu I saw Lobster Thermidor. I had never had this before, and never really thought about it. Until Lego Batman mentions it is his favourite thing to eat. So yeah, that is pretty much the entire reason I wanted it. At first. Then it dawned on me, I would be able to have lobster and bug close enough together that their flavour would still be fresh in my mouth.

The challenge was on. Lobster vs Bug.

Before the lobster came out, I was fully prepared to crack into it if I needed to. I had no idea what to expect, and thought only part of the shell was missing. It came in two halves. I had a little fork, for digging out lobster flesh, and a shell cracker thingy, for cracking lobster shell. I needed the fork, and I just used the shell cracker because it was there. The actual thermidor is cooked inside the shell, I think. Using the fork, I scooped out the biggest amount I could. Tasted it. It wasn’t bad. This was actually pretty good. The tiny bit of lobster I managed to get without sauce was genuinely pretty tasty. I was impressed. Not as good as bugs, but still pretty good. This was the first time I really enjoyed lobster. I finished the meal then I sat back.

That was when it hit me. Lobster thermidor, while a more extravagant dish, reminded me of Aunty Margie’s seafood mornay. A little bit in flavour, but mostly because it was a very well made creamy seafood dish. The location helped. When I looked around George’s Paragon Seafood, I saw a lot of families. A lot of love. A lot of people enjoying their food. The whole combination reminded me of sitting in Aunty Margie’s dining room, eating excellent food and being surround by family.

Aunty Margie’s cooking is missed by many, many people.

So, the winner was bugs. I prefer bugs to lobster, but I would love to have Moreton bay bugs thermidor. That would be awesome. I think I may have to actually cook something.

Eat well everyone.

On Tuesday I went to Jellyfish for dinner.

I still get a little anxious going into some places without a booking. Even if no one else is there, as it turns out. I am always afraid they will turn me away, but they never do.

Jellyfish was pretty good. The staff were friendly. Their advice on the dishes was good. The place is pretty lovely itself. When I got there I had the place all to myself, and chose to sit near the boardwalk on the river.

I skimmed through the menu and found my benchmark. For those who don’t know, this is duck. I have had duck every restaurant I have been in, when I can. Then I couldn’t decide on the entree. Luckily, the waiter was genuinely helpful on this front and suggested the scallops, as opposed to the prawn ceviche.

The scallops were okay, the sauce was nice but the scallops didn’t melt in my mouth (GOMA has now become my pinnacle of scallopy goodness, did I mention the scallop dish I had just before Christmas? It was incredible…ahem). I did make the mistake of thinking that the duck probably wasn’t going to be amazing either.

This was a mistake.

The smoked duck was incredible. The flavours were amazing. I was so tempted to order a second dish, but I didn’t. There was not much more to say about this, the smoke and the duck flavours danced so well on my tongue I didn’t want them to stop. I briefly forgot about people watching on the boardwalk and just melted into the dish. It was very good.

The people were entertaining to watch, mainly bike riders getting angry at people who were clearly not walking fast enough for them.

Dessert was a “share platter”. The dessert was good, three uniquely flavoured things on a plate that I would have only shared with someone that I was being intimate with. Maybe. There was a hazelnut coffee ice cream type dessert, coconut cream and blueberry dessert and another more tart coconut one.

I went to look at the dessert menu to refresh my mind but the one online is a little different to the one I saw. Oh well.

All three were pretty good, my favourite was one that came in a glass and had blueberries, coconut ice cream, and short bread, as well as berries garnishing it. All of them were good in their own right, but this was my favourite. This was also more than about three or four bites, like the other two were. As this was a share platter I suspect there may have been more to the desserts when had on their own.

I will find out one day as I am planning on heading back. I want to try the fish, which is what they have a reputation for.

Now to the Junction. While technically this is about The Junction hotel in Annerley, this is also a little shout out to all of the hotels out there and their food.

On Saturday night I got a seafood platter from The Junction hotel. This is a pretty good dish. A Morton Bay bug, some fish, calamari and a few other things.

Even though about half of it was deep fried it wasn’t that oily. The whole thing was really nice, garnish included. To top it off, their cheesy garlic bread is really tasty, in that probably no good bits way. Really tasty.

I have been to only a handful of pubs and RSL’s, bu the choice of food has been pretty good. From ribs to one kilo schnitzels. Thank you to everyone who puts in the effort to make these great.

Eat well all.

That thank you goes to all the chef’s and waitstaff of everywhere I have eaten at.

On Saturday I went for lunch in Fish Lane. From the museum end, we passed a few places, and decided not to go to them for various reasons, mostly I didn’t feel like burgers or pasta.

We passed the Fish lane entrance to Chu the Phat, and decided that if we couldn’t find anything else we liked the look of we would go there. We didn’t though.

We walked for a bit longer and found a place called Wandering Cooks.

I am pretty sure I have never been there before, but the place gives me a really strong sense of deja vu.

Anyway, the leafiness of the venue and the small amount of people is what drew us in. That and the menus. Cheeseburger pies, Afghani chicken dumplings, blood orange tonic with candied grapefruit, and more.

This place was perfect. Mainly because it looked like it was put together who wanted people to just eat, hang and have a good time.

We wanted to eat. We wanted to hang. We wanted to have a good time.

I ate. As should be no surprise by now, I ate so much that I needed a nap when I got home. Ah. I feel sated just thinking about it.

I have eaten more in the past, and felt the same, but I think the atmosphere contributed to the feeling. I don’t intend to test this, but I feel I could have napped there and they would have just left me, provided I wasn’t in the road.

We started with some samosa and some Afghani chicken dumplings. Both were equally good. The samosa had a really pleasant level of spice, not really that much but nice still. The chicken dumplings had a really nice tang to them. They were coated in an orange/red sauce and you poured a little of a green sauce over the top. Great.

As you can guess, no idea what any of the sauces were. They were delicious though.

I was washing this down with the blood orange tonic with the candied grapefruit. This was a pretty good drink, just the right level of tart.

Following this we had the butter chicken. It was good. I can’t tell you that it was different to most other butter chickens I have had, except maybe one or two that are very much the definition of you get what you pay for. The whole dish was nice though and meant I would like to try other things from this cook.

Then came the cheeseburger pie. It was a meat patty, pickles, cheese and tomato sauce in a pie crust. It was great. I was not sure what they were going to do, and I was not expecting that. The best bit, was that the patty tasted like something someone had made themselves, and if it was bought that way from a store, which one? I really liked it, and would like to have another one, with sriracha of course.

Finally came the strawberry and  ice cream cheese cake. This was, as the name suggests, strawberries, ice cream, and cheese cake. It was st ill pretty good. I think because after they first tasted, they went “yep, that is it. Leave it”.

It was a really good way to end a wonderful meal, with wonderful company.

That and the doppio with ice. This is one of my favourite drinks to have when it is hot. Basically it is a double shot, short black, with a piece of ice in it. I love it, especially if the coffee is good. This coffee was.

Ok, I need to find a snack now. Eat well everyone.

Oddly enough this is not a reference to my Saturday night.

Saturday night was very good, and I am definitely going back to C’est Bon at some point in the near future. I will also get back to it in a future instalment.

The reason for this, and the reason I am not mentioning the ridiculously generous amount of butter everything at C’est Bon was cooked in, is a place called Indian Brothers. It stands on the sight of the restaurants Sing Sing and New Sing Sing. It is very well designed, in a plain but very well laid out way. C’est Bon was more of a come have a meal, eat and be social environment, more intimate then Indian Brothers. Possibly the same amount of butter, but better. The menu is larger at Indian Brothers, the portions are bigger and the food…

At C’est Bon, before we had ordered the degustation, we started with a pea mousse with a mint foam. It was delightful.  This was followed by a piece of baguette with butter, very good butter.

Then came the a salad of prosciutto, mustard leaves or rocket, scallops, mushrooms, and rum soaked raisins (is that how you spell raisins? Weird.).  The whole combination was great. The flavours all mingled together like some sort of bizarre song that caught you by surprise, but you couldn’t help grooving along.

A soup came next, cream and tomato, with a small piece of barramundi in the middle. This was really good, simple yet tasty. I loved this the most of all I think (None of this beat GOMAs scallops, but I wasn’t expecting it to).

A palette cleanser came next. A sorbet with little bits of meringue. Nice.

This was followed by vegetables and half a quail. If you want to know how to make this a meal, boil everything in butter, then add extra melted butter and reduce until everything tastes like it has a butter coating, finally sprinkle with butter. I am only guessing by the way. It was brilliantly buttery though.

This was followed by dessert. A mango salsa on a piece of pineapple, with ice cream, toffee and fresh cream. Again, very well done.

I would go back to C’est Bon in a heart beat.

Indian Brothers, though. I want to go back to make sure.

I ordered a mixed tandoori  plate and a mixed entree. All of this, the lamb, chicken and vegetarian sausages, tasted good at the time. The tandoori lamb cutlets were great. The samosa’s and pakora’s tasted really good. The lamb and cheese naan I had tasted pretty good too, as did the tikki chaat.

Tikki Chaat tastes really good. I had no expectations when I ordered it. They said to us it was street food. It tastes like a mild curry and a yoghurt took a dive onto some chick peas and a naan. In a really good way.

My problem is that I felt a little off my food for the rest of the afternoon after that. I need to go back to see if it was their food or something else. I am hoping it wasn’t their food, because I really liked the flavours.

Oh well, if it is it just means I don’t eat there that often.

Eat well.

I wasn’t well this weekend, and am still feeling a bit under the weather, so this is about the place I went to before Christmas.

‘Twas the Saturday before Christmas and I wanted to go somewhere I had never been.

I googled the Goma Restaurant and found out it opened at 12pm.

I went and looked around the APT9, which I recommend by the way, and kept an eye on the time. At 11:59 I thought about heading to the restaurant. Nah, I’ll wait until 12:01pm.

I had never been here before, and wasn’t 100% certain where the entrance was. It didn’t take long to find, on the ground floor at the back of Goma. Also, as a heads up, it is a bit on the expensive side but well worth it.

I had already looked at the menu online previously so I knew what I wanted, but also knew that sometimes white I wanted was for two or more people.

You see, I wanted a tasting menu( If there is a difference between this and a degustation I don’t know what it is). There is a thing I have learnt, and people will tell you all the time, it never hurts to ask.

So I asked.

“Do you have to book for a tasting menu?” “No”

“What is the minimum amount of people required?” “One”

I had the seven dish tasting menu.

I’m going to be honest, I don’t remember everything I had to eat. It was all pretty good, some of it flat out amazing. I also lost track of how much I was eating, which is fantastic. I love that kind of surprise.

There was a starting dish. I’m buggered if I remember what it was, but I remember thinking it was pretty good. Whatever it was, it was the taste equivalent of a walk to a great park. The part of the walk where you know the park is around the corner, but you haven’t quite seen it. You can anticipate what is coming though. This path is actually a lot more exciting than it is tasty, as you know it is just going to lead to something great.

I also have forgotten dish two, and three, and the accompanying snack. I was fully in the park by this stage. The flavours made my mouth want more, until I had finished what was on the plate, and then I wanted to sit on the bench and just absorb the ambience of the park itself. The bursts of colour. The beautiful extras that make the dish more appealing. Just the right amount of flavours to make you lean back in your seat and wonder how intense eating a full sized dish of these creations would be.

This brings me to the title piece. This may have been third, but I think it was fourth, I had already started losing count. This was flame grilled scallops, with thinly sliced fried scallop crumbs and a Japanese inspired sauce/broth. I almost cried with how delicious this was. If you plan on going there and trying this imagine I said it was ok, so that you can experience it the way I did and aren’t prepared. The manager asked what I thought about it. “No words,” I cried” I have no words”. “I know,” she said.

It was a little dip after this, the next dish was a welcome lull. By no means any less than great, but not as tear inducing as the scallops. Did I mention I wanted to cry, they were so good, I may be bias.

Somewhere during this were more snacks and meals. So much so that by the time it got to the first of the two dessert dishes, I was surprised. I was trying to keep count, so much good food. Watching other people getting regular sized dishes made me want to come back and do that next time. Didn’t help with my count.

There were two desserts and a snack.

The snack consisted of a slice of mango covered in fried shredded coconut. It was actually really good. There were two other desserts, that were also great but again no idea the moment what they were.

Just when I though that was it, they brought out some longan berries, one that was injected with Lychee jelly.

I think I now have two favourite restaurants.

Night all. Eat well.

Did I mention how much I loved the scallops.

I have been out and about this weekend just gone.

Saturday I went to the Bearded Dragon, at the bottom of Mount Tambourine.

It took a fair while to get there, but definitely worth the trip. We were there for a friends birthday party, and as soon as we sat down, I got back up so I could order food. I don’t think anyone would be surprised that I don’t tend to wait before I order food.

I ordered the ribs that were their special, and a rocky road sundae with popping candy.

I am going to do this in the reverse of what I normally do, normally I would tell you about the main first, but this time you get the dessert first.

I am not going to say it was bad, because it wasn’t. I am going to say, I may have expected way more popping candy than I got. I got a small bowl, which I had assumed given it was half the price of most of the desserts, of rocky road ice cream, with a chocolate biscuit, some popping candy and some other stuff. I don’t recall much else about it. Aside from it was pleasant of course, even with the meagre amount of popping candy. Look, I know I love popping candy a lot, so it may have been a normal amount for your average person.

Before I had the dessert though, I had beef ribs. These were done in some sort of very tasty sauce, and on a bed of slaw and chips. The ribs were very tasty, and basically fell off the bone when I held it upright. Each mouthful was a delight. Each time I placed some of the rib meat on my fork my mouth watered. It was great. The chips were pretty good too, I don’t think they were anything unique to the Bearded Dragon, just done well. Then there was the slaw. I like my slaw to have a little tang to it. Maybe it’s all of the chilli I eat now, maybe people are just a bit vinegar shy, who am I to judge.

Slaw is getting weak in the tang department, I am the guy eating it who has judged it. So there.

I wouldn’t normally complain about it, but this is not the first slaw like this I have had. I like my slaw tangy ok.

Ahem.

Sunday.

On Sunday i went to an all you can eat Yum Cha at Inala plaza.

This was actually pretty good.

For nineteen dollars, you basically just kept going up and getting yourself baskets until you were done. Not everything was great, but I am not going to complain about it for that price.

The following are observations though, both good and bad.

The price means this is great value.

The chickens feet were a little skinnier than the ones I normally have in Sunnybank, tasty though. I also still got just as messy as normal eating them.

The dumplings were a bit firm, they still tasted okay though. We had about three different ones, maybe four. They were all firm in the middle, not bad just firm. I peeled one and ate the inside first and then the skin.

The honeycomb beef was really good. Maybe we got there as it came out, I am not sure. It tasted really good though, and was some of the best cooked honeycomb beef I have ever had. If you don’t know what this is, maybe you shouldn’t google it.

The pig’s intestines weren’t that great. They were alright, as in not horrible, but lacking in a little flavour. i am not sure how long they had been out for though. I’d eat them again, but I am in no rush to.

The beef tendon was a bit firmer than most people probably like. I think we had got it too late though, and it had been on the warmer for a while.

Finally, the mango pancakes. These were good, if someone dialled down in mango flavouring. They were filled with cream, oh so much cream. As I bit in, I thought it was going to go everywhere. I am glad it didn’t though.

There was probably more food, but I have forgotten what it was.

This yum cha place is definitely somewhere I want to go back to, and now I want chocolate. Eat well all.

Firstly, this is not a dig at a person. I knew there was a possibility I would be eating alone on Saturday night. I booked the table for one, but mentioned a possibility for two in the notes.

I got a call Friday afternoon, from the place in question to be named later.

“This booking is for one.”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

“Table for ONE.”

“Yes.”

“ONE”

“yes”

OK, I think they stopped at the second one. It still felt like the loneliest dinner reservation I have ever made. Just so you know, I eat out alone a lot. I love eating alone. I love eating with company too. Somehow, though, I felt like there was a hint of annoyance this time. Like they were trying to urge me to make the second person a reality.

One.

One for the Spice Den.

I caught an uber to the location. The driver had never heard of it. The GPS was telling him to go down a side street. After a brief exchange about where it could be, he dropped me off right in front of it, without realising it.

I was just under 15 minutes early so I went for a walk up the street and back, and walked in 5 minutes early.

I sat down to a relatively empty restaurant, which filled up almost completely within half an hour.

I am glad I made a booking. I watched people who hadn’t get turned away.

Now

On to the food.

A quick look at the menu and it becomes obvious this is a collection of dishes from various countries, mostly Asian. After searching through the menu for an entree, not that hard mind you, I looked for the first thing i try at every new restaurant. Duck. There was duck, and I shall get to it soon.

To start with I had sashimi White Fish.There may have been other words with it. What came out was a plate with six pieces of fish, swordfish, covered in lime and pepper. For those of you who have tried, or plan on trying sword fish, or any white fish for that matter, and would like to taste the actual subtle flavours of the fish, LAY OFF THE PEPPER AND LIME. Don’t get me wrong, this was a great idea for a dish. A little lime and pepper (or chilli) go really well with the delicate flavours of white fish. That is an important word to remember, delicate. On the few pieces I managed to tip some of the pepper and lime off of, it was delicious though.

I followed this with  Half Peking Duck, or Peking Half Duck or Peking Duck Half or can you tell I have not been looking at the menu of the place for this. Not the full Peking duck experience, mind you, just half a roast duck with buk choy and hoisin sauce. It was actually pretty good. Oh and there were bits of mandarin with it, which made the whole thing really tasty. The duck itself was cooked really well, and even on its own had a slight citrusy tang to it. The only thing is, there is not much more to write about this dish. It was pretty good though.

Finally I had Mango and Mascarpone Crumble for dessert. This was also a subtle dish, the mangos were frozen (which I think was deliberate), which meant they had lost some of the strong mango flavour. This worked out well for the dish though, and on a warm night it was really nice to finish with. I only managed to get a few mouthfuls that were all three of the components. It wasn’t a taste explosion, it was a lovely cooling taste slap??? Oh, taste caress that was a great finish to the meal.

On that note, leaving you with the thought of a taste caress, i shall be off. Eat well and I shall write again soon.

Ok, maybe that is extreme.

Syrup definitely ruined some though. Worth it.

This weekend started at The Burrow. A wonderful place in west end. The decor is cool, and the food is pretty good too.

I went there to draw, and eat obviously. I started with “The Mortgage Breaker” as I began my drawings.

“The Mortgage Breaker” Is avocado, lemon and toast. The avocado is drizzled with balsamic vinegar, and tastes pretty amazing. After finishing that, I remembered that avocado on toast is not enough for breakfast, especially for me.

I continued to draw and followed “The Mortgage Breaker” up with “The Lumberjack”.

A big breakfast by any other name…

“The Lumberjack” is pretty good if you’re hungry, or if you are in need of a second breakfast. Like me.

Pancakes, hash browns, bacon, sausages, and more filled the plate. I slowly made my way through the lot, leaving the pancakes until last. At some point between the pancakes and my mouth, the syrup dripped sneakily onto the table. I was getting annoyed at the drawing I was working on, and thought maybe it wasn’t working. I put the book picture side down to find a different one to finish and when I pulled the page up the ink had become a large blue black mass. No picture, just smeared, syrupy ink. Damn.

Oh well, definitely somewhere I am going back to.

Where everybody knows your name…

I do not drink very much alcohol. A glass every now and then is about it. My Cheers (if you don’t remember the TV show, or are too young to have seen it, you have YouTube, look it up) is a restaurant. A restaurant called Detour.

A restaurant, that I have mentioned many times here.

A restaurant, that for some bizarre reason, I walked to to make a booking on Tuesday because somewhere in my head I had decided that would be easier than ringing up.

Also, still my favourite place to go.

As some of you may be aware, I took the winner of the guess the next birthday of #coffeegoblin #boozemonkey there. Without looking at the booking, the new waitress was told I was at table 26. She then proceeded, after asking politely, to explain the menu and the way the dishes are intended to said winner as I was clearly a regular. Within the first few minutes, all of the staff I am usually chatting with had come to say hello.

I was already aware there was something new on the menu, and I am pretty sure they were already aware I was going to order it. At least, I am pretty sure there were bets placed.

The new dish was a goat dish, with pieces of goat, some skyr (some form of goats cheese, technically) and some Goat bacon. It was good. The goat was milder than what I am used to, but that kind of worked for this. The goat bacon thing was my favourite bit. It also had onion and brussels sprouts, which worked beautifully with it.

We also had salmon with black ants (I love this combination), that was done in a different way to the first time I had it. This time it was a few pieces of salmon, drizzled(?) with ants. Still a really good dish.

Finally, we had mushrooms (I’m going to look up and see what these dishes are called now).

Right We had “Yangan Valley Goat”, “Master Stock Salmon” and “King Brown Mushrooms”.

The mushrooms were really good. The chestnut pate with them, combined with the sunflower seed gave a mild miso flavour.

All of this was followed by my favourite panna cotta dessert, with freeze dried bees.

And Sunday we ate…

Sunday had more eating, of course.

I went to King of Kings, in the valley for yum cha. Where I ate so much, but as it was over the course of an hour I didn’t feel as bloated as I sometimes do after yum cha. I still waddled out of the place though, feeling like a happily stuffed penguin.

I think my favourite thing about yum cha is taking my time. Sitting and eating slowly and enjoying it. If you have friends with you to chat as you do so, it is even better. I could probably, happily sit in a yum cha place all day if they let me, just eating and chatting with friends. I think I would be able to roll home if I did though.

On that note, I am going to go and find something else to eat. Good night all, and eat well.

There are many things I have eaten, most of them with glee.

There aren’t many I haven’t, I can list them though.

Well the ones I know of.

I haven’t eaten Camel, or Snake

I haven’t eat horse or guinea pig.

Until Saturday, I hadn’t eaten Alpaca.

Burger Urge has an Alpaca Burger at the moment called A Big Pac.

It is pretty good.

It’s two all alpaca patties, pickles, onion etc. Also, it is the size I always imagined the inspiration for it to be. It was huge. I couldn’t fit my mouth all the way around it, but I damn well tried.

If it wasn’t alpaca, it was a really good attempt. It was like lamb, but a little bit sweeter. I even had some of the patty on its own to make sure. To be honest, i don’t know what I expected alpaca to taste like. I think i mainly expected it to taste like goat, but lamb made sense. I could easily eat alpaca again, sorry to everyone that loves them.

Now that I have had it, I am keen to try it again in a different way, maybe alpaca chops or alpaca sausages.

I’m going to have to change the topic, so I don’t drool on my keyboard.

Braaaaaains

So on Friday night, I wound up at Mongrel in Park rd, Milton. I have wanted to go here for a while because someone told me they had brain croquettes.

Guess what I had Friday night. Brains. I love brains.

There are many reasons I love brains, but my favourite reason is nostalgia. My Aunty Margie used to make me brains and bacon sometimes. Mongrel had brains croquettes with prosciutto. It was fantastic, definitely going back for more.

Ok, due to heat and tiredness I am keeping this short tonight.

Eat well and eat strangely.

I love taking a week off for my birthday to eat. It is one of my favourite things to do, and if I could afford it, I would do it for the whole month of October.

But I can’t.

So, instead of that, I will talk at you about the wonderful food I had this week, and the people involved.

Let’s start with Saturday.

Saturday

This began at lunch, as a lot of Saturdays do for me. Due to it being closed on Mondays, I went to Detour for my birthday lunch, my first birthday lunch that is.

After being wonderfully chastised for not going that frequently, and agreeing to go monthly from now on, I perused the menu. Ok, I perused for something to have with the Emu Tartare.

I started with Cured Market Fish and Emu Tartare, and followed this with Pork Belly. All of this was finished off with my favourite dessert. Pannacotta with Granola.

Now there are two things I need to say here, the first is I have already gone through the conversation of two freeze dried bees being too many to eat when we need bees so badly at this point in time.
The second is that Saturday seemed to be the day of mostly raw. Which I am fine with.

Cured Market Fish and Emu Tartare at Detour and, later on, Steak Tartare at French Martini.

Emu Tartare and Steak Tartare are similar in theory. Emu is a little like beef, and you mix a similar sort of ensemble of flavours to highlight the natural flavour of the meat.
Cured Market Fish is a lot milder then the others. It’s kind of like cerviche, in fact I am pretty sure it is cerviche. I originally got this because I saw the words “tiger’s milk” in this.

It was not, as I first thought, milk from a tiger, but it is some sort of citrus based marinade. It was really good, and I recommend it.

Has anyone actually tried to milk a tiger?

Anyway.

Both lunch and dinner were solo affairs on Saturday. I like to eat alone sometimes, it’s meditative. Though, I never really feel like I am eating alone at Detour.

Monday

Birthday Day

There was a lot of food on Monday, and thank you to everyone who helped make it a great day.

I am only going to focus on Chew the Phat, though.

Chu the Phat is a beautiful restaurant in West End. The food is good. The downside is the price. If you can afford it, go to Chu the Phat. At least once. I went with a friend, and we got so much to eat.

It was great.

I am trying to remember all the different things that were on the table, and every time I do I can only think of the red fried pigs’ tails.

This was the greatest dish of the night. I had never had this before, I don’t think so anyway, and it was great. The right amount of crispy. Enough meat and fat to make it enjoyable. I am drooling just thinking about it.

We had a table full of dumplings, cucumber, some other things and red fried pigs’ tails. Oh, I was in heaven.

This is my favourite way of eating, one of the reasons I love yum cha. Loads of baskets of food, piled up on the table, great company. Just talking and eating and drinking green tea.

There was no green tea in this case, but there was a birthday a shot. I am not normally a drinker, and I don’t remember exactly what was in it, but it tasted like I was drinking a cupcake.

The rest of the week

I ate so much last week, I don’t think this would be a surprise to anyone. The rest of the week comprised of ribs, korean chicken, horchata, gelati, miso eggplant and a plethora of other food.

Also a lot of duck, so much duck. Duck spring rolls, duck dumplings, tea smoked duck, duck confit and crispy rice salad and duck pate.

The duck pate was really good. I liked it that much that I am pretty certain it counts as not even remotely healthy food. This is most definitely a sometimes food. The Duck confit and the duck spring rolls were also pretty good. Though the spring rolls were not as strongly duck flavoured as I like normally, they were still good. The duck dumplings and the tea smoked duck were both excellent, and the only thing that would make me say anything negative about them was the price. While good, you can get excellent food for a more affordable price in Sunnybank. If you can afford it though, definitely go to Chu the Phat.

There were loads of desserts too, but I am not going to bore you with those details.

Except for the birthday cakes my daughter made me. She made a large quantity of small cheesecakes and carrot cupcakes. The small cheesecakes were on a biscuit base and had a strawberry and some blueberries on top.  The carrot cup cakes were covered in a cream cheese icing, a walnut and salted caramel in the middle. Both types of cakes were really good, and I have nearly eaten them all.

Now, I need to eat.

More.

Snack time.