Elk and Pea 11 December 2013

Not byo, so we had:

490 metres Cab Merlot Central Victoria 2010

Present: Kim, Andrew, Megan, Ron, Jim, Karen.

Elk and Pea, wow.  We saw an advert for it in the food section of the Canberra Times, thought we would check it out to continue our American continent food explorations.

It’s a new, “hip” bar/restaurant/café in the middle of all the bike shops etc in Lonsdale Street.  A cute little place, with cute décor, pictures on the ceiling, peacock on the rafters etc.  A very casual place to eat, some large tables, some benches etc, which seems to be the trend these days.  It could be a bit noisy perhaps, but we were in a table in the middle, not so bad.

The food is geared to sharing, so that suited us of course.  We were warned that one main is usually big enough for two people, which definitely turned out to be the case.

We had:

• Ceviche
• Quinoa and zucchini
• Mussels
• Pork belly
• Chicken jerk
• Goat stew

This list doesn’t really do it justice, the tastes were fabulous, new, interesting.

The ceviche was a lime/mango flavoured fish on top of a corn chip, with avocado and radish.  Really really nice (not sure about the fried potato chips though).

The quinoa was light, crunchy, with cumin, corn, tomato, and some other surpising ingredients.

The mussels came with a think tomato sauce, chilli and chorizo, it was very tasty and very Italian

The pork belly was tender, sweet, no bones.  Chicken was fabulous.  It was moist and flavoursome, chargrilled plus something else done to it, we couldn’t work that out.  It was not bland like chicken can sometimes be, but had a flavour we couldn’t identify, which I thought was allspice/pimento and which turned out to be one of a number of spices.

The goat, ho hum, a bit bland and nothing really.

Desserts?  Well Ron and I had the donut, very wicked and absolutely yummy.  Jim had the chocolate mousse thingey which tasted lovely but looked unfortunate.  Much hilarity ensued regarding its appearance.

Soul Food, Erindale Shops 27 November 2013

Chicken wings

Ron with the Shrimp and Crab cakes

Karen with the Gumbo

Jim with the fish

Wine Picarus Wrattonbully 2010 Shiraz

Mystic Sounds, 2012 Sauvignon Blanc Marlborough

Present: Megan, Kim, John, Ron, Jim, Karen

We had:

• Buffalo chicken wings
• Victor’s smoking ribs
• Louisiana Crab cakes
• Shrimp creole
• Blackened barramundi
• Chicken and sausage gumbo

Not sure why we deviated from our normal Asian fare, but Andrew (who in the end couldn’t come because he had a meeting with his Thai people) suggested it as something new.

It’s in the area opposite the Erindale Shops, where there are lots of restaurants, and lots of cars trying to park so people can go to these restaurants.  We had been to the Vietnamese place that had previously been in these premises.

Overall we enjoyed it.  The chicken wings were hot and spicy, with a hint of paprika, or was it chilli, with a touch of mayonnaise on top.  They came on top of a plate of chips, which was a strange touch for an entrée, but of course they got eaten.

The fish had a lovely lime/mango coconuty flavour, it was yummy, as were the crab cakes which were nice, very delicate with a lovely texture.  The salad went well with them.

Now the spare ribs, which we nearly didn’t order, were absolutely to die for.  The sauce was amazing, a fabulous smokey flavour, the meat fell off the bone.  We all dived in, wanting more, and Kim bought the recipe book so that she could make them.

The Gumbo and the shrimp dishes were both a bit strange, odd flavour.  Maybe this is what they are supposed to taste like and it’s just that we are not used to these kinds of flavours.

The wait staff, and the boss didn’t like the fact we were taking photos and said it was not allowed!!!.  It seems as though someone on a social media/blog site has given them a bad wrap, so they are forbidding photos.  The boss also came out towards the end, noticed we were taking notes and got a bit twitchy.  This was a bit unfortunate, as it put a bit of a damper on our mood.  If he’s getting bad reviews he should do something about the food, not something about social media.

He loosened up after a bit, had a chat, got his trumpet out and played happy birthday to Jim.  When we were leaving he had ensconced  himself at the other table that was left in the restaurant, and was having a great time.

There weren’t that many people in the restaurant when we were there, which was just as well because I think it would have been another one of those really loud places, with sound bouncing off the ceiling and walls, not ideal for the baby boomers.

Overall, good place, worth going to but make sure you have the spare ribs.

Lantern Room October 16

I didn't manage to get there (was in Perth), so missed out on what the others said was the best meal of the year.
They had the degustation, with an extra fish. They asked to change the barramundi for the ling but were told no, they couldn't, so they ended up with both!.   On another note, I went there the other night with family and asked to change two of the degustation dishes, and that was not problem.

The overall feedback was Ron (swoon and in heaven): others made comments such as "fabulous" "absolutely spectacular" " best meal", "really great".  Wine was amazing (Marlborough SB).  The 3 dishes which really blew them out were the Waygu beek, the barramundi and the ling.  Plus the lamb chops were beautiful.

Delissio 30 October

Wine:Grant Burge Pino Gris 2011
Saperavi _ Alpine Valley - King Valley Gapstead

We ordered a few of the tapas style dishes to start off with, they looked so interesting.  The pork belly was not really exciting, calamari nice and crisp with a polenta crust: the chicken seemed to have a satay sauce and was nicely presented with a cucumber salad. The steamed endamane beans were something different, subtle  but nice tasting once we had worked out how to eat them

For secondi, we ordered Gnocchi verde, Linguini oceania and a penne pollo

The variety of pastas was good, but we felt there was a bit too much pesto on the gnochhi, the chicken was rich, but it was supposed to be.  The salad we ordered was nice, but should have been more.

Dessert was really yum, quite rich, not for those on a diet

Overall, the experience was pretty good, but had learnt from last time not to order too much, the food here is very filling.

Kusina November 13 2013

Wine:
Grant Burge: East Argyle Pino Gris, Adelaide Hills 2012
Gapstead 2006 BAllerina Canopy Durif 2006

Food:

• Fried soft chell crab
• fresh spring roll
• marinated chicken
• thrice cooked pork
• baby snapper
• beef sirloin
• pork belly grilled

Present: Megan, Ron, Kim, Andrew, John, Jim, Karen

Making a booking for this restaurant was a bit strange, they asked us to choose our dishes when we booked, which is most unusual.  We couldn't quite work this out.  Was it because they wanted to make sure they had all the ingredients for us?  Maybe that was it, because, unlike last time we were there it was only half full.

Anyway, we didn't do that and waited until we got there to choose (these things are always done in collaboration aren't they?  Imagine the email exchange that would ensue if we had to make a collective decision before we arrived!).

The crab cakes were beautiful, if a little salty.  Crab cakes are one of Ron's (many favourites) so we try them whenever we can.  These measured up pretty well on balance, not too fatty, a little bit of spice there.

The pancakes were, well, difficult to eat.  They were great big fat ones, filled with the vegetable mixture, couldn't really be folded up, hard to cut up with fork and spoon, so some of us at least, made a bit of a mess of it.  Filling but otherwise okay.

The grilled pork had a lovely fish sauce flavour, but was  a bit tough.  The fish was a nice mix of flavours, with the mango salsa on top, beautiful.The twice cooked pork was extra ordinary, great flavours of limes, chillis etc.Chicken was tender, flavour great. Beef was tough, sause okay.

Overall a good meal with some new tastes.  The only drawback was that there were not many vegetables, either on the menu or with the dishes we chose, so the whole meal was a bit meat based.  Oh well, you can't have everything.

Flavours of India 4 September 2013

No report, yet

Ba'an Latsmay Wednesday 18 September

Duck Pancakes
Crunchy Eggplant with fish
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Spicy and Crispy Pork Belly
Warm Salad with King Prawns and Chicken
Hot Wok Stir Fried
Vegetables in Peanut Sauce
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From his cellar Jim selected a 2005 Wood Park Kneebone Gap Shiraz

Not many notes from this dinner....
I was not there, so generally the feedback from the others was that was okay, not great, even though one of us had a discount voucher.

The fish with eggplant was too heavy, the eggplant was fried to death in batter, which ruined it.  The duck pancakes were 'okay" and the pork nothing special

The overall verdict was that is was okay, but not spectacular, we wouldn't bother going again.