China Plate 2 December 2015

 

 

 

 

Wine:

Show Sparkling Shiraz Great Western Vineyard 1990

St Martin Riesling 2015

Megan, Ron, Karen, Jim, John, Kim 

We had Beijing Duck pancakes

Wasabi fillet Steak
eggplant spicy salt
three kinds of mushrooms
fish fillet vietnamese styles
ko po chicken

The duck pancakes were beautiful and meaty.

The rest of the meal was amazing. every mouthful was fabulous, it was a good mix of flavours, great variety, the mushrooms were a bit plain but went well with the oyster sauce.  The aubergine chips were the winner  (as always), the wasabi beef was a fantastic flavour, vietnam fish had a combined  fish sauce and blachan flavour which was concentrated at the bottom of the dish.  The chicken has lots of dried chilles which made it very tasty.

 The usual bunch of federal politicians were stalking us yet again, oh well we just have to put up with it, don't we.

Rocking Ribs, Erindale Wednesday 18 November 2014

Jim, Karen, John, Ron, Kim, Megan (too far for Andrew).  It was Jim's birthday

Wine: Taku: Sauvignon Blanc Marlborough New Zealand 2014

Campbells Limited Release Shiraz Durif 2002

Kim had read a review of this and suggest we go along.

It is a reworking of a another restaurant that had been there that had served New Orleans food which we rather liked.

This one specialises in ribs and burgers and related foods from the south of the US.  We went for two platters, the Missisippi Platter and their "New Orleans Mix" along with some corn bread.

 All was quite nice, the ribs were the winners, along with the fish. The ribs had a nice tender, smokey flavour,  the grilled fish was done beautifully.  The wings were ridiculously hot, we couldn't eat them, the beans and corn muffins good.  The two share plates were enough for the six of us.

Not refined food, hearty, basic, family food, good for a nosh up, not an elegant night out.  The restaurant was not crowded the night we were there so it was not too noisy but would be with a lot of people.  The wait staff were friendly but very casual, almost too casual, forgot about us on a few occasions which was a bit odd especially when we were the only ones there. 

Chang Rai 4 November 2015

 

Chiang Rai, Southern Cross Club Woden

 

Everyone, Kim, Jim, Karen, John, Ron, Andrew, Megan

Wine: Mud House New Zealand Sav Blanc Marlborough 2014

Wirra Wirra Church Block Cab Sav Shiraz Merlot McLaren Vale 2013

 

Spring Rolls
Money bags
Mild mussaman Beef
duck legs with figs and thai spices
red curry chicken
macadamia scallops
fish fillets with chilli, garlic  ginger
mixed veges and beancurd

 The spring rolls were nice and crispy, the money bags weren't quite right, the mince was not moist enough, too dry.

The chicken curry was dry, but had a nice coconut flavour; the duck beautiful, sauce good; scallops nice not sure about the roe but best to taste it with the basil, beancurd nice; massaman a bit sweet and watery; fish tasted like it came out of a packet, dry with a thick skin.

 Overall the food was okay, not outstanding, a bit disappointing really.  Not as nice as the one in Woden Plaza.

Service was good, ambience nice.  It was very quiet as there was only one other table there.

 

Green Bamboo Swinger Hill 9 September 2015

4 attendees

 Entrees

Stuffed Chicken Wings                  Comments:  very delicious

Rice Paper Rolls:                               Comments : nothing out of the ordinary

MainsHoney Prawns:                                 Comments:   fine; not exceptional (Ron); delicious (Andrew)

Sizzling Beef                                       Comments:    fabulous (Ron)

Fih in Hotpot                                    (I did not record a comment, but I seem to recollect the fish dish was quite good)

Vegetarian Stir Fry with Noodles       Comments:  bland (Ron)

Plain Rice 
Wine
Mount Langi Ghira Billi Billi 2006  Shiraz . (From Jim’s cellar I assume).

Comment:  Wow and Wow !!!!   Intense dark berry spicy flavours that exploded on the taste buds from the first sip.

 Ambience

Very quiet and sedate.   Good place to hold a conversation.    There were a number of seated quiet groups of customers.  But the restaurant emptied quickly after our arrival.  The restaurant is worth another visit some time

Mr Wei's 21 October 2015

Wine: Giesen Marlborough Sav Blanc 2014

Grant Burge Barossa RS26 Reserve Shiraz 2006

Megan, Ron, Karen, Andrew, John, Jim

 

We had:

• half a duck comprising duck pancakes and duck with noodles
• master cut eggplant
• pork belly
• combined flavour fish
• lemongrass chicken

 
Ron gave the whole meal 11 out of 12, it was really, really good.  We made a really good choice, couldn't pick our favourite dish.
The chicken was amazingly tender, was it smoked or steamed beforehand, maybe sous-vide, but whatever it was very moist and went well with the lemongrass and garlic flavours.
The fish was deep fried in a batter, was spicy and lovely
The eggplant was also deep fried in a kind of batter, but not too fatty, nice and crunchy.
The duck was to die for, both the pancakes and the noodle dish; the pork was very tender and tasty.  There was quite a lot of fat with it, but that could easily be separated.
The desserts weren't that inspiring, cheesecake and profiteroles, but no great drama, we had eaten enough good food by then to be satisfied.
The menu on the whole is not extensive but what they do they do well. Mr Wei's seems to be underrated for what it is, an inexpensive but very satisfying Asian meal.

 

Megan, Ron and Andrew had just been to Politics in the Pub to see Richard di Natale, Jim had just been to Sydney to see his cousin David in Megadeath.

Oriental Terrace 7 October 2015

Kim, Jim, John, Ron, Karen

We ordered Crispy Dick (half) pancakes, rainbow beef in lettuce leaves, sambal ikan, shantung chicken, fried noodles Shanghai Style, and Chinese mushrooms with seasonal vegetables. For dessert we had a combination of banana and apple toffee.

The half duck to start with was great. So much meat on it. We only got one pancake each to start with. The guy at the restaurant offered to bring out another whole set of pancakes, complete with more spring onions and more hoisin. Yum.

All the other dishes were really good too. The fish was by far the best.

Dessert was a combination of two desserts - toffee apple and toffee banana, plunged in a bowl of iced water to set the toffee. We all shared it. It was fun to get apple or banana at random. The apple was still crunchy in the batter and the banana of course was nice and soft. Yum again

The Olive 23 September 2015

Kim, Jim, John, Ron, Andrew, Karen

We had a separate room which had one big table with big comfy seats. Nice and quiet. Really good service all night.

We shared the entrées. All were really good.

The schnapper, moussaka, goat and the chicken were all superb. We had our own main courses, but of course all tried some of each other's meal. All were big servings, but not too much to manage.

Desserts were beautifully presented and were as good as they look in the photos.

A really enjoyable night out.