Indian Affair Wednesday 22 February

John and Andrew

Karen and Jim

Karen and Megan

And Ron of course



Wine:
Deviation Road, Adelaide Hills Sauvignon Blanc
Grand Vin de Bordeaux Chateau Bichon Cassignols Graves 1996

Food:
Entree
Vegetable pakoras
Punjabi Chaat
Samosa Chaat
Mains
Prawn Korma
Mali Koftas
PunjRatna Dal
Lamb Saag
Butter Chicken

The Samosa Chaat was a potato patty with a yoghurt sauce, with shredded coconut.  Quite unusual and very tasty, we all went back for more.  Vegetable pakoras were very moist.
Punjaib chat, cubes of potato and tomato in a yogurt sauce with spinach fritter on top.  Very tasty, very fresh.

The mains were basic Indian curries, lots of heavy sauces but differing flavours. The prawns, yum, saag, very nice, the malia koftas had a very sweet flavour: butter chicken (everyone's favourite) was as per usual nice, rich and sweet. the lentils were okay but not remarkable.

The highlight for me, always was and always will be, the punjabi kulfi, which comes out wrapped around a long stick.  I don't really care, it was delicious.

Overall a nice meal, no surprises, typical Indian fare.  The head waiter (owner) is chatty, friendly, likes to joke with people.  The televisions with Bollywood movies screening in the background are a bit of a distraction, but part of the package with Indian Affair.  Usually we go there in winter, because somehow the heavy flavours go best in cold weather.  But since we haven't really had much of a summer in Canberra so far, it was probably appropriate to go there in February

Alanya, Manuka. 8 February 2012

Vine leave and fava bean dip

Mushrooms

Fetta cheese fingers

Zuchini balls

Eggplant

Stuffed Zucchini

Prawns grilled

Lamb on eggplant puree

Baclava

Dessert

Dessert plate



Wine

Pfeiffer Riesling 2011

Cranswick Estate Vignette Range Shiraz 1997

FOOD

Entrees, all nice.  The pea/broadbean mash was voted the favourite, but the mushrooms were also pretty good.  The pastry cheese fingers, bit hard to taste the cheese.

Mains:

Prawns, very nice, Ron pigged the extra one.

Lamb on eggplant puree excellent. 

The stuffed eggplant was John and Jim's favourite.

Stuffed zucchini really nice. 

Dessert:

Ron's mixed plate was a winner, he had no problems scoffing it down.  My dessert was very much like gulab jamun but too too sweet, too much cinamon for my taste.  Jim's baclava was pretty good.

Overall, a satisfying meal, but didn't reach the heady heights of say Sage or Lantern Room, but it's not trying to present that kind of food, so it didn't matter. Good basic turkish tucker.  Service was good, friendly, restaurant not too noisy, so it was a good night

Noble Palace Wednesday 25 January

Wine
Matua Valley Marlborough Sauvignan Blanc 2011, lovely, very drinkable
Westend Bridges 1997 Cabernet Sauvignon - excellent, beautiful

FOOD
Duck Pancake - very nice, missed the left overs that we get at some other restaurants
Honey King Prawns - nice
Vegetarian Eggplant Hotpot - fabulous, wow!
Pork Fillet with Lemongrass and Chilli- the tomato based sauce dominates
Chicken Chow Mein
Fish Fillet with hot Rocksalt - goeswell with the white wine, "standable" as in meets the minimumstandard, loved the light batter
Fillet Steak with Beijing Sauce - somepeices of the meat were a bit tough but had a nice flavour, nice sauce
Sago Pudding - very enjoyable
Coconut jelly - nice, tastes like coconut,poor presentation, a winner
Banana Fritter - Ummm, Orrrrr, the bananajust melted, ohhhhh Um, I didnt like it at all, that was great, beautifulbatter, that was really good, that was fabulous 
General comments
We thought that we had over-ordered,but Ron proved us wrong.

Sage Restaurant, Gorman House Wednesday 11 January 2012

kingfish tartare

Avocado roll

beef short rib

gorgonzola cheesecake

Sour cherry cloud

foie gras creme brulee

zucchini flowers

King salmon

chicken and squid

Muscoy duck

Wine:
Heidsieck and Co Monopole blue Top Champagne Burt
Barkly Durif, Campbells 1992
Lark Hill Chardonnay 2008

Ron decided that we should go upmarket to Sage because I had been there for Jule's 21st and raved about it and he didn't want to miss out.  It did not disappoint, totally came up to expectation, a memorable night with fabulous food.

Firstly, Sage had just changed their menu and this was the first night they were trying it.  The waitress was keen on any feedback that we could give, said that they had been tasting, discussing various combinations of food before they put this together.  And it was a very experimental  menu.  As Karen said, they had put lots of flavours on each plate, and one had to combine all of them and taste them together to get the full flavour.

We chose the 4 course meal (despite Ron wanting the 10 course degustation, for once he did not get his way).  Entrees of kingfish tartare (mango, black olive, fennel jalapeno) was delicate and delightful: zucchini blossom (goats curd, tomato and basil) was surprising, woke up the taste bud: the foie gras though (summer berries, hibiscus, sesame. lemon balm) was a strange combination.  The foie was too light and couldn't handle the sweetness of the berries.

For the next course, the chicken and squid (samphire, wild rice, rouille chorizo (what is a samphire?)) was beautiful, moist, which is hard to do with chicken with what seemed pork skin on top. The avocado (sheeps yoghurt, beetroot, black cherry, pinenet, wood sorrel) was to die for, enough said.  But the marron (iced tea, spiced carrot, young coconut, nori merinque) was according to Ron very plain, bland, looked good but needed something.  The iced tea added something, but not enough.  The coconut blob at the bottom was nice.

Mains: Duck (orange, carrot, pickled red cabbage, liquorice), beautiful, the  liquorice was strong but good mixed together: beef (maple soy, turnip, pearle onion parsley root) was superb, good strong flavour.  The meat was very dense and "meaty" (well it would be wouldn't it) and really needed a steak knife to cut through.  The king salmon (prawn, papaya, cucumber, soybean, vanilla) melted, was well cooked.

The desserts, well, not as spectacular.  The cheesecake (gorgonzola, apricot, souterns, vine leaf) just did not work, very strange taste.  Needed more sweetness perhaps.  The cheery cloud (toasted coconut icecream, cocolate variations) was not sweet enought, too tart without richness.  The coconut was lovely. And the lemon tart (cinnamon basil, sorbet, shortcake, raspberry meringue) was beautiful.

A great night, fabulous wine as always (thanks to Jim)

Lantern Room, Campbell Shops Wednesday 15 December 2011

Tasting Menu

Cured ocean trout on Fennel and Carrot Confit ( no picture)
Tom Yum infused crispy prawns with Rock Melon and apple slaw (no picture)


Winter Garden                                                               Beetroot Sorbet with onion Jam













Chargrilled fish with chillied pickled pineapple                               Penang hawker style satays













 Beef curry Kampung style                                                       Pork spare ribs

dessert

Kulfi

Kopi Tiam Wednesday 30 November 2011

 Entree

Zucchini flowers stuffed with crabmeat and tomato sambal dip

Roast duck rice paper rolls

sand whiting tempura with baby fennel salad

Main

Crispy skin chicken with coriander salsa

Aubergine and tofu with sambal

Chilli lemon king prawns and baby squid

Sizzling ginger lamb with shao tsing sauce

Kopi Tiam is one we always come back to from time to time.  As Karen said, "when they do something well it's to die for" but when they don't it's a bit ordinary.
And such was the case this time.
The Zucchini flowers stuffed with crabmeat and tomato sambal did, the roast duck rice paper rolls, the aubergine and tofu with sambal were to die for.
The baby fennel salad definitely enhanced the flavour of the sand whiting tempura. The prawns and squid were "nice" , but the silverbait (whitebait?), the chicken were ordinary, the lamb tender and well made but dull.
On the other hand the desserts were especially delicious, envied by those who had not ordered them.

Ron ("I was wondering why my leg suddenly felt warm") liked the tofu best, it was the standout. He liked all the dishes, said he's not fussy like the rest of us.  The white bait had delicate flavours and was nice with the lemon he said
John said the lamb "lacked in flavour" but apart from that enjoyed the meal very much, liked the variety.
Karen"there were some spectacular dishes as always but you have to choose them otherwise the meal can be a bit ordinary". She gave the evening 3/1/2 stars.
Andrew: The desserts looked very good (he did not have one, he is looking after his weight); the mains and starters were a mixed bag
Jim: enjoyed it all especially the sago pudding: overall an improvment on last time.

The service was very fast, the kitchen small, only 3 people cooking. The bill came to $263 between the 6 of us.

Desserts

Black rice with coconut palm sugar

Sago pudding

WINE:

Shottesbrook Chardonnary, McLarenvale 2010
Penfolds Koonunga Hill Shiraz Cabernet Sauvignon 1993

Jim and Karen