I love to eat. I especially love to go out and eat. A couple of years ago I spent about 26 weekends eating at a different restaurant every week. This led me to find that I really love going somewhere different to eat every weekend, and this here is your way to share my food adventures, from ants with salmon to vanilla ice cream with sriracha. Come on, it'l be fun.
I also have a single panel comic on instagram called Coffeegoblin and Boozemonkey.
While I know this is usually my Monday night thing, I decided I would work on a script tonight.
Warning: This entry is about pork knuckle, there are no mentions of any vegan friendly things. That is all.
So instead of that, I am now here…on WordPress…thinking about how good the pork knuckle I had on Saturday was and how being a member of the German club may mean I eat a few more of them next year.
I really liked the pork knuckle, it is most definitely a dish they excel in.
The crackling was incredible, the meat tender and the potatoes and sauerkraut accompanying it were pretty good too. A few people I know don’t get that far. They get as far as the pork knuckle, maybe even half. It’s not a bad effort for them, it’s a pretty big dish.
In my eyes, and possibly to some of the readers, the potatoes and sauerkraut are scarcely more than a garnish. Ignored until the main part of the dish has been sufficiently devoured and all you are now doing is idly stabbing at a potato before swirling it around the gravy for a while. Maybe, just maybe, you might eat it. If you weren’t full of the succulent trotter you had just gorged on.
The trotter is the real star of the show here. It’s obvious to people who aren’t even eating one. To the people who you share your crackling with, and to those who just long for it. If the potatoes had more than just the role of an extra with a few lines, they would be crisper on the outside and fluffier in the middle. The sort of roast potato that crunches when you bite into it, and straight after your teeth just glide through the potatoey goodness. The potatoes that you know you should stop eating after your second or third plateful, but you don’t. You keep stealing small pieces wherever you find them, be that the tray on the stove or the plate of someone who is not paying that much attention.
The sauerkraut is the second extra in this. A small, but powerful, voice in a salty sea of gravy, potatoes and pork. Cutting through the greasy, moist mouthful of meat like a limp vinegar sword. I don’t know what I am saying either, because I am not thinking of the sauerkraut or the potato.
I am thinking of the pork knuckle. Pork Knuckle. I am thinking of cutting into the side of it and extracting bits of fat and flesh, cooked to perfection. Gradually picking off little bits of crackling as I need to, but preferably eating the meat from underneath it. Leaving just a shell of crackling to enjoy crunching into. Once the act has finished, and the extras have gone, you then begin to examine the remaining bones for any bit of flesh, fat or crackle that may have been missed. Any of it. If the show went well, all that will remain on the crockery stage is a few smears of gravy and some naked bones.
One of my favourite things to eat is miso eggplant, nasu dengaku. I have had it at every Japanese place I can possibly have it, and no two places make it the same.
Almost every place. I have yet to have it at Oyama.
Sunnydoll currently has my favourite though. Most of the ones I have had were a bit milder in the miso department.
Today’s eating adventure had the closest to Sunnydoll for umami flavours.
Today, after trekking around the city aimlessly for half an hour, I went to Sake, imagine there is a thing over the e. Sake, keep imagining, is a modern Japanese restaurant on Eagle Street. The food was really good, the staff were great but the atmosphere was, actually the atmosphere was what I expect from that sort restaurant.
It’s pretty expensive and presents itself that way. The food is small in portion, but very tasty. The nasu dengaku was not as good as Sunnydoll, for my liking, but it was good. It was also done very differently to what I am used to.
Normally nasu dengaku, or at least most of the ones I have had, is half an eggplant grilled, then coasted with miso (I hesitate to say miso sauce but I suspect it is) and grilled again. Sunnydoll’s is very strong in the miso flavour, which I love, and comes apart beautifully (most of the time, luckily I have a big mouth for the rest). At Sake (imagine dammit), the eggplant was thin pieces of a narrow eggplant, each topped with a miso and something topping, that made the miso a little mild, but still pleasant. The presentation was really good though.
I also got sashimi, as I am prone to do, and this too was good, but for really good sashimi go to Oyama. As far as the sashimi itself goes, they were on par. Oyama is very inviting though, and one of the things that make Oyama a great place are the staff. Sake staff are very professional, beautifully so. Oyama staff are, however, capable of making you feel like your first time is the beginning of a beautiful friendship between you and the restaurant. They are far more relaxed, while at the same time being incredibly good at their jobs. This made the difference. At Sake, you got the food it was good and they knew it was good. At Oyama, they know they are good, they are brilliant at making food, but they also excel at making you feel like you have input in the process. Both of these places are an experience, I just prefer the Oyama experience.
The last dish I had, I have never had before. It was tooth fish. This was expensive, but well worth it. The fish itself is very delicate, I didn’t realise I hadn’t had fish that delicate before today. Each mouthful felt like it was just a subtle fish flavour melting through your mouth. At first I was taken aback, because all you get on the plate is the piece of fish and a tiny bit of garnish. I trusted the chef knew what they were doing, and I was not disappointed. Each mouthful was melt in your mouth great. Also, a word of advice for anyone else willing to pay for this (or who can get one with paying for it) look at the fish, notice the curve and run your chopstick/fork gently across it. A loose bit will start to come away, start there. Don’t fight with it like I did at first.
Some were good, friends who were amazed by the desserts, or the unique display of the entree.
Some were bad, OK bad is the incorrect term. No one ever said alchemy was bad. Some people said they didn’t think it was worth the amount you pay for it. The desserts were good though.
A trend perhaps.
The only part of anybodies review of Alchemy that was consistent. The desserts were amazing.
Guess what…
That’s 100 percent accurate.
I have found a new favourite dessert. I am no longer that bugged about the lack of freeze dried bees in Detour’s dessert. I will admit, nothing can top the crunch of the sweet tasting bee, I apologise to the bee lovers out there but they are really tasty. Alchemy’s truffle honey panna cotta , is really close though.
It wasn’t very big. It was very pretty though. The taste was incredible. It was this beautiful blend of creamy panna cotta and chocolate glass. There was more to it than that but these are the important bits. The panna cotta itself was topped with a thin layer of truffle honey, which I think something may have been mixed into it to help retain the shape. The chocolate glass was my favourite bit. OK, I thought this was some sort of dark toffee, based on the texture and the brittleness of it. It was very, very delicate and when you took a bite, it crackled in your mouth. It was like popping candy, without being popping candy. On it’s own it was great, mixed with the panna cotta it was amazing. I’ll say it again, it was a small dish, but that is OK, as the flavours made up for the size.
I also did the Liquid Nitrogen Experience with Chef, Gastronomic Nibbles.
I don’t think I can emphasise this is enough, DO THIS. If you go to Alchemy, do this. It is ten dollars well spent.
I am not sure if it is different every time, but my nibbles were honeycomb, coconut and lime cream, and coffee and baileys cream.
The coffee and baileys was like eating soft, airy ice cream. The baileys over powered the coffee, not by much though. Also, it was so cold that it was a little like eating something very warm. I instinctively blew on it, because it was an extreme temperature. After a second I realised what I was doing and ate it. The outside was slightly crunchy (crunchy is not really correct, but it is the closest thing I can think of to describe it, and firm and delicate only just occurred to me) and the inside was fluffy and very creamy.
The coconut and lime cream came out like a mousse, with a firm delicate crust (AHA insert this description in the description of the coffees and baileys). It had just enough lime that it didn’t hit straight away, but when it did it wasn’t overpowering. While I have had frozen mousse before I think this was the first time it was deliberate, and not a happy accident. When I bit into this it crumbled, like a meringue, I attempted to catch the crumbs as I didn’t want to lose any of it. I didn’t succeed in getting all of it, but I got most of it.
The honeycomb was my favourite. It was the sort of honeycomb you make, not stolen from bees. It was in already in a cube, and then dipped into the liquid nitrogen for a while. After being informed it was made in the kitchen, I was wondering how much more crunchy could you make. It shattered when I bit it, in a really pleasant way. I felt the shards of honeycomb hit my tongue and melt. It was divine, but that wasn’t the best bit. The best bit was that when you breathed out there was a cloud of vapour. Not a quick puff, but almost the whole time you were eating the honeycomb. This was so much fun to eat.
I got a main and an appetiser as well. The duck (main) was very good, and the whipped goats cheese (appetiser) was milder than I usually like it, but they were good. I really enjoyed the whole thing. Go, it’s expensive but good and I am now going to have some ice cream.
Specifically the ones that make burgers or fried chicken.
Also, specifically the ones I usually don’t like.
This isn’t a gripe though.
I am not a fan of certain fast food chains. It’s not ethics, though there may be ethical reasons not to, nor is it a damn the chain type thing, there are a few chain fast food places I like (Hi Sushi Train). It’s mainly that I prefer different foods now. If they ever have a brains and bacon burger I will race through the door and order ten. They don’t, and I am genuinely not here to complain about that.
I do want to say thank you to them.
To all the McDonald’s and Hungry Jack’s (or Burger King depending on your location). To all the KFC and the Red Roosters (though I do still like red rooster occasionally). To all the placers we loved as kids, trashed as teens (be it verbally or physically) and took our own kids to as adults (your own includes the kids of friends and anyone else you are part of the village for).
This is the thing about these places, regardless of what they are, that I am grateful for. There are times when you may not want to cook. Maybe your parent isn’t the best cook. Maybe you can’t afford to go out for steak. It doesn’t matter. There are places you can go that are affordable, thanks to chains like these.
For some families this is their weekly, fortnightly or monthly treat. I remember being super excited to go to McDonald’s when I was a little kid. We didn’t go that often, so when we did it was always special. I vaguely remember the first time I was able to eat a whole big mac on my own. KFC was in the same boat, something that we had very infrequently and was a huge treat when we did. I
I like a huge variety of flavours now, that places like that can’t cater to.
Some people prefer a smaller choice. Some people find comfort in the fact that no matter where they go, certain things will be the same. While this is not something I need to worry about, if the only food you can eat comes from a McDonald’s or a KFC when you are out because you know what is in them, then I am glad there is somewhere you can go and eat when you are sick of your own kitchen.
Thank you McDonald’s and KFC from the little kid I was. Thank you Big Rooster, wherever you went.
Part of the reason for this, is that on Saturday we went to Ribs and Burgers for dinner. I like Ribs and Burgers. Their ribs, while not the best, are good. Their burgers are also pretty good. I suspect that the food in every Ribs and Burgers will be pretty much the same. I have yet to test this theory, but it has a good chance of being true. Apparently their milkshakes are pretty amazing. again, I personally have not tried this but I trust the source.
I had beef ribs. I couldn’t remember how many came in the large, so to be on the safe side, I got the regular. I don’t learn somethings very quickly. I remember getting regular ribs from there in the past and thinking I should have gotten the large. Hopefully next time I will remember. The ribs were pretty good. The sauce was nice, the meat came off the bone pretty easily and they weren’t too fatty. All in all, good ribs.
As I was chatting with my friends, while I was eating, I looked around at the people who were there with their kids, and with their loved ones, friends or family. That was when it occurred to me. I was very grateful to all these places, for the atmosphere they provided. The food, bland as it might be, that meant you knew what you could get regardless of where you were.
Thank you.
Not to the moron’s they decide what they want when they get to the front of a long fucking queue. You can go to hell.
This is a short and sweet entry this week, predominantly about cold desserts.
On Saturday, we went to the Little Cube for dinner. After this we went to Milano Gelato for dessert.
While I should tell you about the Little Cube, thanks for the recommendation Chris, and its wonderful food. I should mention the amazing Pork dish we had, that the only part of the name I remember was pork cube… and a quickish search on google later, the braised pork cubes were amazing. They melted in my mouth. The beautiful blend of pork, potato and chili oil is also something I should mention, but won’t.
Nor will I mention the marinated pig’s ears. How wonderfully spicy they were, and the great flavour of each part as I crunched through the cartilage.
That would not be about frozen dessert.
Nor would the cucumber and garlic in chili oil. Nor how great this was. To us it was the most unique thing we had, but you don’t need to know that. That sometimes simple things blend into delightful flavours, is also a thing you don’t need to know.
What I should talk to you about is frozen desserts.
About gelato or ice cream. Cheesecake or ice blocks.
In this case it is gelato, which followed the meal I won’t tell you about. The spicy squid, which I shall now fail to mention. The fact that it was well cooked is irrelevant. As I also fail to mention this particularly succulent squid dish was also sizzling.
The gelato I had was three flavours. Chocolate, Coffee and Salted Caramel.
As you will notice neither of those three flavours was chicken, like the fifth dish I am regretfully not telling you about from the Little Cube. The chicken dish, which was probably ok in its own right, but was overshadowed by the braised pork cubes. I will not tell you that while it was ok, the flavour combination was indeed very similar to the braised pork cubes, and as such meant every mouthful was compared to said dish.
The gelato was good, and while I am aware I didn’t talk about it very much, I shall now disappear into my kitchen in search of a cold dessert.
The full title of this should probably be second breakfast and 1 kilo schnitzel.
As I didn’t write last week, due to exhaustion and ill health, the former caused by the latter, I will catch you all up on my two favourite things from this fortnight.
First of all.
Monster Schnitzel at the Red Brick Hotel.
August was free upgrade month at the Red Brick Hotel.
This meant if you were getting the chicken schnitzel, or the parmigiana, you could get it upgraded to their Monster Schnitzel for free. This meant, you got a kilo of chicken schnitzel, instead of five hundred grams (I guess).
This is the one kilo of chicken schnitzel.
I have known about this since I last went to the Red Brick Hotel, and have been wanting to try it since. I was afraid the whole thing would be really dry. It wasn’t though.
The schnitzel itself was pretty good, and surprisingly so was the salad.
When I was ordering it, I was asked if I wanted gravy. I asked if they had hot chili sauce. They gave me the choice of plain chili sauce, or the sauce you get with the wings. That sauce in the middle of the plate is the buffalo chili sauce. It was really nice, dipping the bits of Schnitzel in the sauce. I did try some of the schnitzel on it’s own first, and it was great on its own.
Out of all of the ways you can eat a chicken, schnitzel is my third favourite. First is Korean fried chicken, and the second is a whole roast chicken. This means that I have eaten a lot of schnitzels, and this was definitely one of the better ones.
The worst one I ever had was from a take away shop, I don’t remember which one but I think it was in the city. It wasn’t expensive, but I remember thinking I felt ripped off. The schnitzel itself was dry, about a quarter of the size and width of the one in th photo and, unless you possessed a jaw that could chew through a gobstopper, was incredibly difficult to chew. Fortunately, I can chew through a gobstopper. It took me a while to eat it, and I am pretty sure I ate the whole thing to feel like I didn’t waste my money.
Many years later, and I still feel ripped off.
Second Breakfast
On Saturday, I went on a failed search for a certain type of chili. I was informed after first breakfast and a hike around the Rocklea markets, that there was very little chance of finding what I was looking for at this time of year. A few doughnuts and an iced tea later and we were on our way to Market Square.
After another futile search for these chilis, we decided to go and eat.
At the back of Market Square, next door to a fruit and veg shop, is a place called Taste Gallery. We decided to give it a shot. They had congee. I am not 100% certain how much it cost, but I know it was pretty cheap.
We got our bowl, some chickens feet, some sort of breakfast crepe thing and went off to find a table. The place was pretty full and we had to share a table with a mother and daughter (I think they were anyway). The tables are big enough that this wasn’t an issue, with the amount of food we had.
I don’t think I have had congee before, and if I have it wasn’t like this. I got shredded pork congee and it was really good. I only added chili and chili oil to mine, but I saw people piling up shallots and other green things and a whole range of stuff I want to add next time. There will be a next time.
After the congee we got some pan fried soup dumplings. I am pretty sure there is a universe rule, which is that at some point you have to burn yourself with a pan fried soup dumpling. Which we all did.
I loved the whole thing. Eating a whole bunch of little things with friends is one of my favourite ways to eat breakfast. I also want to go there one night for dinner as they have so many things I love to eat on their menu.
One last thing
The last thing I want to mention was this wonderful can of coffee. There were different types of justice league coffee. Batman was on the black coffee, the Flash was on the caramel macchiato and Wonder Woman was on white chocolate coffee.
I just googled it, and discovered there are three more. The shop we were in only had three. If anyone knows where I can find all of them, I will happily try and review all six.
I don’t count it as a trip to the ekka unless you have at least a dagwood dog and a strawberry ice cream. I had both of these, and more. This is also going to be a memory lane week, as it was the first Ekka after my Aunty passed away, and I got a little teary in the cake section. People who knew her would know why.
My favourite part of the Ekka is usually the food. Whether it comes from a show bag or the food stalls, I love the variety. I also love how it is not usually great. Or even good. Sometimes it makes cardboard look appetising. Sometimes I like flavoured cardboard.
Enough about that though.
My favourite thing about the Ekka, and the thing I think I get asked every time I have ever been. Dagwood dogs.
Did I get a dagwood dog?
Yes I got a dagwood dog. Of course I got a dagwood dog. Though this time I got it without sauce so I didn’t have to clean my self up as much afterwards.
It felt wrong, I am aware. If there is a next time there will be sauce.
I like dagwood dogs when they are fresh, and the batter is a tiny bit crispy on the outside and soft and warm in the middle. I am pretty sure they use frankfurters for these. I’m going to look it up…Ok, according to the recipe I found, yes. Normally I also have these dipped in a thick layer of tomato sauce. Having recently had one without the sauce, it is better with the sauce.
You know, I think dagwood dogs fall under the same category as coffee for me. I don’t remember my first one. There must have been one, but they are so much of an Ekka tradition that I am going to assume my first one was at the Ekka.
After this I wandered around a bit and looked at other food related stands. There was one spot where almost every stall had dagwood dogs, and they all looked sold out. There were places for pies, and places for steak. Places for cheese, and places for cake.
I could not see a Hans Smallgoods stall. If it was there I didn’t see it. This used to be another tradition, getting a sausage from Hans. I didn’t mind how long I had to line up, or the fact that it was probably cheaper to by this myself and fry it up at home. I just wanted the chance to be served a sausage by the man or TV who was the face of Hans. Not this year.
There was a German Sausage place, but it is not the same. Has to be Hans.
I wandered around for a while. Looking for something to eat. There were a lot of choices, aside from dagwood dogs. There was a lot of food from different countries (mainly in the form of eat and wander food), and a lot of locally produced stuff too, mostly cheese and wines. There was a chili stand, the same one that is always there I think, and I had there 10++/10 chili. It had a bit of kick. Wasn’t bad, not eye wateringly hot for me, but the bite was there. About 45 minutes later, and a coffee and some crab net spring rolls later (more on these in a minute), I had the 10+/10 chili called dragons blood (or something similar) and it tasted like sweet chili sauce to me, with a tiny bit of a kick. I am guessing there was some decent heat to it (for non-chili enthusiasts, or the enthusiasts just starting down the chili path) as I saw some people try it and start to sweat.
At the back of the Woolworths pavillion was a vietnamese street food stall. All of it looked pretty good, but I settled on the crab net spring rolls. I have no idea what the crab net part is made from, it looked like some sort of webby noodles when wet, but basically replace the spring roll pastry with that. I should have let them cool a bit more, but they were still pretty nice. No clue, what was in them. Way too hot for me to taste properly, as in straight out of the fryer type hot. I wandered around eating them and saw the things I wound up purchasing.
I wound up buying a washed rind camembert and two girders of nougat.
The washed rind camembert was from the Bruny Island cheese co. I think. I loved it, it was very strong and had a really nice after taste (if you like strong cheese). I was also informed it was a bit whiffy and was encouraged to eat it as quick as I could. Unadorned by anything, the cheese alone disappeared pretty quickly. I have no idea what I would put with it normally, probably some strong cured meat or capers on a mild cracker. Go nuts, I’m just going to eat the cheese whole, we all know this.
The nougats I bought came from the Blue Cow Cheese Company, again not 100% certain I shall go check…It’s Nougat Limar, which according to the website I found is at least through the Blue Cow Cheese Company. One was Wild Berry and Macadamia, which was pretty good. The berry part is definitely the dominant flavour when it hits your tongue. The violet almond one is my favourite though. I am pretty sure the almond is in it just to give your tongue a break from the violet flavoured nougat. Both were pretty good, and both were pretty big, so I am still eating my way through them.
Ok, I am off to get more nougat from the fridge. Night all.
7,8 and 9 are all places I have talked about a fair bit.
Shawty’s, Dapur Dahlia and Sunnydoll are all places that fit the bill. All it has to be is a place that I actually eat at, which they are.
I have talked about Dapur Dahlia and Sunnydoll multiple times, so I shall talk about Shawty’s.
Shawty’s is currently the place I go to in the morning to eat breakfast and do my comic. There are two things here I really like, though all the food is good, the sausage roll and the ham and cheese sandwich.
On their own these two are ok. With the tomato relish they have, they become pretty good. I first had the sausage roll with the relish and it blew me away. Mainly as I was not expecting it to be tatsier than a regular sauce covered sausage roll. There is something about the relish that moves it that step beyond.
Now I am no connoisseur of sausage rolls. I have had quite a few of them, way more party sausage rolls than I care to think about, but I have never really gone out of my way to determine how good each one is. That being said, I have been to a few bakeries that make their own that have been really good. One was in Beerwah, one was in Coorparoo and Banneton Bakery in Woolloongabba.
Right, tangenting this briefly to talk about sausage rolls.
Almost everyone I know has eaten a sausage roll, and a lot of them have a favourite sausage roll. Everyone who has a favourite has told a story about what makes it their perfect sausage roll. I now have a confession to make, I have no idea what most of them said. I know what makes a sausage roll awesome for me, and I have known for a really long time that I have a very different set of tastebuds to most people. One of the things I do agree with though, is the pastry is important (why the hell am I talking about sausage rolls? Oh well). Soggy pastry can kill a sausage roll, so can pastry that is too dry. Some people will add sauce to the drier ones to hide the dryness, but this doesn’t work as well for me, though I will do it too. I much prefer the pastry to be flaky but not too dry. Somewhere between slightly moist and crusty is pretty good.
The mince itself should also be full of flavour too. I have had a fair few where the mince was made so bland that the only flavour was the sauce, this includes party sausage rolls. Sometimes people have added salt and pepper to make it less bland, but this doesn’t always work in their favour. All you wind up with is salty, peppery mush. I have had a sausage roll where the sausage mince, before hand, looked like someone had just skinned a whole bunch of raw supermarket sausages and mixed it together. It taste exactly as it sounds.
I had a lot of fun helping with that though.
My favourite is the pork and fennel from Banneton. If you don’t like fennel, there are numerous small places where they make there own sauage roll mince. These are normally pretty good.
Back to the original story now.
Ha, I had to reread what I wrote as I genuinely lost my train of thought.
The relish on the sausage roll is really good. As is the relish on their ham and cheese sandwich. I sometimes just like a ham and cheese toasted sandwich for breakfast, especially on sourdough. After I tasted the sausage roll though, I had an idea. Ever since then I have been eating the ham and cheese toasty with the relish. It is almost like eating breakfast pizza.
Good breakfast pizza.
There was a 10 too on the weekend.
The Bull Bar Restaurant.
I need to go back here. I went with my daughter and her boyfriend. The kimchi pancake was good, and the wasabi octopus was good. The chicken was a little bland though, not bad avoid the place bland, but a bit…blah. Consideing there are other places nearby devoted to chicken, this is fine. There are way more dishes here I want to go back for. For starters, I did not try the duck. This is genuinely making me feel like I did this wrong. So rather than write much more about it. I am still counting it as 10, but I am going to go back and do it properly. All the fun food.
Pig’s feet, sea snails and duck. Oh my.
Night all.
PS I really need to get better at food photography.
It sounds weird to me to say step two, but stair two sounded even weirder. On Wednesday I went to Lady Marmalade’s in Stones Corner for lunch. This used to be somewhere I went to every morning for breakfast on my way to work, until work moved, and they renovated…and I found I could take more time if I wasn’t trying to catch two trains.
This is still a place I love to get food from.
On Wednesday, that food was a BLT with pumpkin sourdough.
Started eating before I remembered the photo
For the handful of you that don’t know, which may actually be zero of you, a BLT is a Bacon, Lettuce and Tomato sandwich. And boy did this one have bacon. I loved the amount of bacon on it. It seemed thicker than all of the rest of the sandwich. I also did not ask them to add sriracha to this, which I am prone to adding to everything.
The bacon was not my favourite bit of this though.
The pumpkin sourdough was great. If you don’t like pumpkin, I will eat yours. It was orange, for starters, and my first thought was how much pumpkin does it take to turn sour dough orange. Surely, not much.
Does it taste like pumpkin? YES, yes it does. Not just pumpkin. It tasted, obviously. like pumpkin sour dough. I couldn’t eaten a whole loaf of this, dipping it the whole time in pumpkin soup. That would be amazing. Does anyone know how to make sourdough? Is this a thing we can do?
Stairs Three and Four – Barbacoa and La Mimosa Gelato.
These two places are within Taco throwing distance of each other. I haven’t tested this and I don’t intend to waste a taco on it.
Barbacoa has been consistently good. I have been there a few times and every time I have enjoyed the meal. Except that to me, it is not hot enough when you ask for hot, but for most people it possibly is.
On Saturday, I got nacho’s and a soft taco. They were both pretty good. On the taco I had some sort of beef, that was pink enough for me to be comfortable eating.
Second taco so I could take a photo of it
There is not a lot I can add they you wouldn’t already know about taco’s and nachos. I don’t think I haven’t met anyone that hasn’t eaten them at least once, even at home.
Also if you are about to ask why I didn’t eat this at home. I didn’t want to. I wanted to eat it at Barbacoa. I wanted to sit in the restaurant and eat my nacho’s with my friends while drinking Jarritos Mexican Cola.
The food here is great, it is about 20 steps to the cinema, maybe 30, and only 15 steps (about a taco throw I guess) from gelati.
After Barbacoa we went to La Mimosa Gelato. The guy who runs this place is great a gelati, not so great at people but I think he thinks he is. I am scared if he becomes great at people his gelati skills will fade and this place will become some chain sushi coffee shop thing. I got a large cup of Raspberry, Sour Cherry and some other flavour Gelati as well as an Affogato with Hazelnut gelati (my favourite affogato was with durian ice cream but La Mimosa doesn’t have that).
Raspberry, Sour Cherry and another flavour
Earlier in the week I had done this particular run as well, and I got a Quesadilla from Barbacoa and a Gelati Cone from La Mimosa. The flavours I got on the cone were not available on Saturday, but were brilliant. I got Choc & Raspberry and Ginger & Pear. When the two flavours merged, it was surprisingly really good. I already loved both the flavours individually and was curious how they would merge.
Wonderfully as it turns out.
Leap Five – Nandos
Places like this are going to pop up on the list all the time. Some chains you know exist, some you don’t find out are chains until someone says they went to the same place in Melbourne. I don’t think anyone reading this hasn’t at least heard of Nandos.
I am still figuring out this photo thing
Due to sheer laziness, I get the same thing at Nandos a lot. I get the bbq thighs, extra hot, as a large meal. This is pure, 100%, lazy for me. I do it solely so I don’t have to worry about bones and can just eat. I am not ashamed of that. If the option presents itself to eat something in an easier way, I’m going to say yes.
Maybe.
I’m not sure I would eat/drink blended Nandos…unless you added enough sauce that it turned into a soup I guess. Spicy chicken and potato, and/or corn, soup. Yeah I’d do that.
I have also noticed I am not actually talking about Nandos food, so I guess that means it is time to move on.
It was good, in that it wasn’t any different to any other time I ordered it.
Hop Six – 4 Fingers Crispy Chicken.
Ok, I have been here before, it is another chain but the one in the city is relatively quiet. I am guessing it gets enough business to remain open.
I have written about this before, I think, saying that the hot isn’t, for me anyway. The chicken is pretty good though.
I really like the way they cook chicken. I don’t think it is healthy, but it is pretty tasty still.
I got a Drumsitick, two wings, a drummette, a chicken chop and some chips. The chicken chop is the one that I want to talk about though. This is like a less flat chicken schnitzel, with the four fingers batter. I have had similar looking things from other places, that were dry and stringy and the only real flavour was from the chicken salt. This was not like that. It was juicy, tasty and surprisingly moreish. Luckily I had already eaten everything else first, so I didn’t get up and eat anymore of it. I am still not certain why, as I was not entirely full at this point.
Lots and lots of chicken side on.
There are other things on the menu, mainly seafood, but I have yet to have that stuff. I think they have rice and salad too…checking menu online. Ok, yep rice and salad.
Finally
I am not following any path here, and just going where I want when I want. So I don’t know where I am going next, but I am looking forward to it.
I have chosen to see how long it will take me to eat at 100 restaurants. Some parts of this journey will be alone, and some will be with friends. It won’t be alphabetical, and it won’t always be close to my house, counting up to the Valley as close. Now that I have started the first step, everywhere I eat at, and the caveat is I have to sit and eat there, will count towards the hundred. I am going to keep a record of everywhere I go, and how many times I go there. Not how much I spend though, I don’t want to think about that bit. For now..
Step one.
While I have only been going to detour for a little over a year, it is one of my favourite restaurants. Full of wonderful dishes, amazing chefs and excellent staff.
No more bees, but that is ok.
My journey begins with Beetroot Tartare and a side of Wombok Salad. Oh, and a long black of course.
I chose to start with something I have never had before, from there, and that happened to be the Beetroot Tartare.
A small hill of small cubes of beetroot (where does small become tiny?), on a lovely creamy base of… of… I have no idea what but it was tasty. Having just looked up the menu, I think it was made of macadamia’s and capers, not 100% certain though. All of this was accompanied by mustard flavoured poppadoms. The whole lot combined was incredible. A burst of sweet, slightly tarty beetroot on a soft mix of macadamia and caper, all sitting on top of a mustard flavoured poppadom. The flavour was amazing, I may have to order two next time I have this.
I had this accompanied by a wombok salad. This is a really simple mix of wombok, salmon and sesame seed crackers, but it’s very good. It is also the salad that made me more willing to eat wombok salad in other venues I frequent. I especially love this dish because it is really simple yet really tasty.
I followed all of this with Poached Rhubarb. I have loved desserts with rhubarb in them for as long as I can remember. This was a fairly new edition to their menu(to me anyway) and as soon as I saw it I yelled across the restaurant that that was what I wanted. Don’t fret, I was the only one in there at that point in time, and was happy to let my excitement overtake me. I was not disappointed. This dish was great, not quite divine (damn lack of bees), but really good. The sauce itself was amazing, and I was really, really tempted to lick the bowl clean. I didn’t, but I cam close.
This was the first step of my one hundred restaurant jouney. I know some weekends are going to be like this, and so I will try to write about extra things, see below.
Below
On Sunday we went to Taco Bell. I have wantedto go here since it opened, mainly out of sheer curiousity. If you too are curious, please don’t let what I have to say put you off.
Taco Bell was not packed when we got there, but it was pretty busy. There were at least three tables I noticed that were free, and their one high chair was being used. The line up was to the door, and there were more people coming in.
We gradually made our way to the counter. I had already decided I wanted the double crunch wrap thing. Which is TWO tacos filled with meat or beans, in a wrap with lettuce and tomato and maybe onion. I also asked for large chips. If I got large chips, they are skimping on the chips. It was the size of a regular chips from some places, and a small from others. They were probably the tastiest bit though.
I am stalling.
Deliberately.
See the problem is that it wasn’t bad. Bad would have been good in this case. Horrible would have taken me back, just to experience the horrificness of it all again. It was bland. Just food, with no real flavour. The whole experience was a bit boring really. I am not sure why people line up as much as they do, maybe because it’s new, because the food isn’t good, it isn’t bad, it is just…there.
Except the nacho cheese dipping sauce.
That was shit.
Bren's Food Adventures 