Thai Corner, Manuka Wednesday 17 January 2013

Wine:

• A New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, of which the name escapes me but we have had it before.

• Jelka of Blewett Springs: Shiraz/Cabernet Sauvignon 2006

Entrée

• Chicken satay
• Thai corner Almond prawns

Mains

• Stir fried deep fried duck with fresh ginger, shallots and mushrooms
• Crispy fish with green apple salad
• Green curry chicken
• Grilled marinated squid with salad and sweet chilli
• Spicy sour paw pay salad with green beans, tomato and cruched peanuts.
• Beef with oyster sauce and vegetables
• Stir fried eggplant fresh mushrooms  chilli and basil.

We were eight this time, even without Kim who is in New York, as Daniel and Lara joined us.  We chose the Thai Corner because we hadn’t been there for some time; it was a change from Kopi Tiam and just because Ron wanted to go there.

The prawns were fantasic, delicious, lightly fried with almonds.  We were not as impressed with the chicken satay.  The marinade had not penetrated or been absorbed, there was too much tumeric, “more flavour than colour” which gave the chicken a “more feeble flavour”.

Mains: 

• The fish was perfectly fried and the salad made a crispy contrast
• The chicken was normal, mild, plain and the coconut milk had curdled.
• The eggplant was delicious, robust.
• Beef: flavour lovely, they had got it just right
• The duck was smokey, with a rich sauce.  It was not overly fried (Karen had balked at the “stir fried deep fried description but we overcame her objections thank goodness).  It was voted our favourite for the night
• The squid had a very fishy flavour, and was a bit chewy.  It needed something else to contrast the squid flavour

The desserts were very Asian, I’ve forgotten exactly what they were, black sticky rice, something custard, coconut cream, palm sugar.  Delicious.

Overall, good meal.  Service quick, noise level not too great.  A perfect place for a casual meal, not really a place to settle in for a long evening's degustation, but what the heck.

Next fortnight we are going to try Burmese, the latest fad, at the Red Hill Tea House

L'Unico Restaurant Wednesday 21 November

Pizza Marinara

Pizza L'Unico

Panna cotta

Mousse

Pork belly

Gnocchi

Pizza dessert (chocolate)

I’m not sure why we ended up in an Italian Restaurant.  I think it was because at the last dinner we couldn’t decide where to go and we happened to be walking past L’Unico in Kingston, looked at the menu and decided it looked good enough.

I’m never really sure about Italian restaurants.  To me,  Italian food is something you cook at home, and thus Italian restaurants are never all that exciting unless they are top of the range  such as Dieci e Mezzo, (closed) or Italian and Sons, (excellent except they won’t take bookings for groups, and anyway  they have two sittings a night, grrrrr).

So it was with some caution that I went along. 

All of us were present for a change, Karen, Jim, Megan, Kim, John, Andrew and Ron

Wine: 2011 Bella Riva King Valley. Pinot Grigio Vermentinl

Wooing Tree Pinot Noir 2008, Central Otago

Pasadena Zinfandel 2007 Pony Express.

Food:

Rocket and Parmesan Salad

Berkshire pork belly

Roasted pumpkin Ravioli

Gnocchi Sorrentino

Fettucine Carbonara

Pizze, Marinara and L’Unico.

We started with some bruschetta, which filled the hungry tums, then after a bit of a wait all the food came out at once.  The pumpkin and the pork seemed to be the pick of the bunch. The pumpkin was deemed “spectacular, outstanding” and the pork, lovely, “to die for” etc.

The rest of ordinary but okay, the gnocchi “not bad” the fettucini very nice to okay, light not too creamy, done well but not spectacular.  The gnocci was ordinary, not very light.

All in all the group liked the restaurant, said they would come again.  Maybe I’m a bit of a snob, but most of these dishes we could have cooked at home with little effort, even the pork.  If I’m going out I prefer something a bit different, even challenging.  This is probably best for families, people wanting something basic and filling.

We did find the service a bit too slow, which was surprising because the restaurant was nowhere near full.

Our next dinner will be a special one (Xmas) and we’re hoping for Aubergine, woohoo.

China Plate Wednesday 7 November 2013

Ko Po Chicken

Duck pancakes

Wasabi beef

3 kinds of mushrooms

Spicy Prawns

Scallops with egg white

Jim, Karen, Ron, John, Kim, Megan.

Andrew is still on holidays, and we are still trying to work out what he is having holidays from since he is retired and life is one big holiday for him.

New to Kingston, China Plate has moved from Civic where we had been once before, and liked.  It is associated also with Noble Palace in Woden, where we have also been.

It helps to have been here before and know what to order and what not to order as some dishes are somewhat better than others.

So we chose duck pancake to start with (as always) followed by

·         Three kinds of mushrooms with veges

·         Ko Po Chicken

·         Eggplant with spicy salt

·         Hot and spicy king prawns

·         Wasabi beef

·         Scallops and egg white

Wine: Ripost by Tim Knappstein, The Stilletto 2012 Pinot Gris

1994 Brokenwood Hermitage (which Jim was worried had gone off but it hadn’t)

The duck pancakes produced the usual “mmmmmm”, no complaints.

Scallops came with a delicate egg white base, which suited it very well.  I thought it had a sesame oil flavour but not everyone agreed, but the texture overall was beautiful.

The beef was a real winner, it was tender with lots of flavour, the wasabi was not over powering.  Ron said it went well with the red wine.

The prawns impressed some of us, not others, but I thought they were well presented, beautifully cooked.  The chicken was also thought to be very nice, but too much like the prawns in presentation.

The eggplant with spicy salt came as chips, entirely delectable, they disappeared very quickly.  They had that lovely salt and garlic flavour common with spicy salt dishes.

The mushrooms and vegetables were thought to be just “ho hum” but necessary as we needed some veges.

Their dessert chef is not due for a couple of weeks, so it was deep fried icecream all round (well nearly).  It would be worth coming back to see what they offer by way of Asian desserts.

Overall the meal was a good one, with a good selection of dishes, giving us lots of variety.  The best dishes for the night were agreed to be the beef and the eggplant.

Topics of conversation: travel to the USA, Daniels and Kims.

Thai Spice Wednesday 24 October

Chicken satay

Money bags

Vegetable fritters

Pork

Vegetable

Red Curry duck

Pad Thai

WINE

Cowra Estate Chardonay 2011

The Grapepickers: The Potts Family Bledsdale Cab Sav 2010 Langhorne Creek

Entrée:

Vegetable fritters

Money bags

Chicken satay skewers

Pepper garlic stir fry prok

Pad thai chicken and prawns

Stir fried tofu and mixed vegetables with cashews

Deep fried fish with sweet and sour ginger sauce

Red roast curry duck

Megan, Karen, Ron, John, Jim, joined by Lara, Jim and Karen’s daughter who had never eaten Thai before.  Kim had had to go to work (what, on a Wednesday evening?) and Andrew was overseas somewhere….

Thai Spice is an unpretentious little place, on the outside of the Woden Plaza,  in Corinna Street. We’ve been there before and liked it, so thought we would try again.

The chicken satays were well cooked with a peanut sauce, much like by Lara. Money bags were also delicious, with a the corn kernels, coconut and water chestnuts.  The vegtables in tempura were very delicate.  They had grated lots of veges and fried them all up together, yum.

Our only query was why are they giving us the same sweet sauce for all the entrees?

The mains: The duck was a real hit (how can you go wrong with duck red curry?) with a hint of chilli and basil.  The fish was gorgeous with shredded ginger.  It was freshly fried, not at all fatty.

 The pork was a bit ho- hum, not up to usual standared, as with the Pad Thai.  In Karen’s opinion they do the best Pad Thai in Canberra, but this was not up to their normal standard.

 And the pork needed extra flavour  was agreed by all.

BUT they didn’t even ask us if we wanted dessert, and by that time the restaurant was empty apart from us, so we didn’t bother.

Favourite?  The duck got the gong by far, but Lara liked the pad thai, and Ron liked the veges.

Overall it was a "great, let's come back here again"

Conversations?  Megan’s trip, Ron’s trip, and John’s long service leave.

Santa Lucia Wednesday 10 October

Santa Lucia Trattoria at Swinger Hill is a home style Italian restaurant which is particularly popular with older groups and families.  As a result, it can get crowded and noisy as we found out when we arrived for dinner on a cold Wednesday night.  Despite this, the service was reasonable and the staff friendly and helpful.

We decided to order a range of salads and pastas to share which was a good way of tasting a variety of dishes on the menu.  Surprisingly, it was the simple salads that were the biggest hit.  We ordered the Insalata di Arugala and the Insalata con funghi.   The first was a rocket salad with shaved parmesan and the second was a grilled mushroom salad with mixed lettuce.  Both were served with a beautiful caramelised balsamic vinegar dressing(yum!).  There were also heaps of mushrooms in the Insalata con funghi.  They were freshly grilled and served warm and just soaked up that lovely dressing –we were in heaven. 

We ordered mixed breads (Garlic, herb and anchovy) to arrive with the salads.  They were very basic but filling and good to have as an appetiser as the mains took some time to arrive.  For mains, we ordered 5 dishes - the PolopettiallaGriglia (chargrilled octopus), Spaghetti marina, Risotto con pollo, Gnocchi allaromagnola and Fusilli al Biondatevere.  The serves were large so the 5 dishes wereplenty enough for six.

The only main dish that was really disappointing was the chargrilled octopus which was both burnt and rubbery – a shame as the other salad dishes had been so nice.  The other pasta dishes were reasonable without being spectacular.  The two favourite dishes were the Fusilli al Biondatevere which had veal and prosciutto in a white wine and cream sauce and the Gnocchi alla romagnola which was homemade gnocchi in a napoletana sauce.

After all the mains, some of us still had room for dessert.   The dessert menu isn’t extensive and by the time we ordered dessert, the more popularchoices had already sold out.  In the end, we tried three dishes – a simple chocolate gelato, a baked custard and chilled pears in wine.  The best of these was easily the baked custard which was divine – well worth ordering again. 

We enjoyed our meal and there was plenty of it.  The cost also worked out as a fairly reasonable $32 each.  It isn’t the best Italian food in Canberra and it isn’t the place for a romantic dinner for 2.  But for families and small groups wanting a tasty home style (plain) Italian meal, it was not bad value and a nice night out. 

Banana Leaf 26 September 2012

Ron's report on Banana Leaf (while I was in Europe)

·         Diced lamb with black spices, chick pea and coconut milk. Everyone liked this. 

·         Tiger prawns and scallops with Sri Lankan spices. Seafood curry. Really good.

·         Vegetarian delight – potato and green pea with Sri Lankan spices wrapped in triangles. Sauce was very hot. Basically vegetable samosas. Everyone liked them. Just the sauce was too hot. 

·         Chicken biryani with ginger and turmeric with Sri Lankan spices. 

·         Lomprisht – basmati rice with chicken, fish fricadel and vegetable curries wrapped in banana leaves and baked. Everyone liked this as well. 

·         Kottu rotti tossed with onions, chillies, leeks, carrot, egg and beef. Sri Lankan pub food. Spicy. Everyone liked this. 

·         Watalapam – Coconut and treacle. Described as like a crème brulee – also like brown custard. Very nice.

·         Curd and treacle – like yoghurt. Kim said it’s good for you. The yoghurt was quite sour and the treacle was very sweet. Very enjoyable contrast. Lovely.