Punjabi Hut Wednesday 23 March 2016

Ratings out of 5 stars
Ambience = **
Taste = ** 1/2
Value = ** 1/2
Service = **
Overall = ** 1/2

Present: Jim, Karen, Megan, Kim, Ron

As its name suggests, the Pujabi Hut specialises in Indian cuisine from the Northern state of Punjab.    The restaurant has only just opened in Manuka but has been in the Canberra area since 2003 and now boasts 3 venues around town (Queanbeyan, Erindale and Manuka).  According to the restaurant’s web-site,  Punjabi cuisine is reknown for its rich (butter/ghee) sauces and is also “simple and healthy”.  We were intrigued by this description.  How can a cuisine be both rich and healthy?  And exactly how did the rich Punjabi dishes differ from the rich Indian dishes offered at other restaurants?  We headed off to Manuka to solve this mystery.

We couldn’t find the answer in the menu. While it offered a nice range of dishes, the choices were similar to other Indian restaurants and if there were simple and healthy options, these were well-hidden.  Despite this, we found plenty of dishes to try and Ron (in particular) was impressed with the number of interesting seafood dishes.
For 5 people, we ordered 5 main dishes: fish marsala (fish cooked in onion, tomatoes, beans and Punjabi Hut’s special spices), butter prawns (king prawns cooked with a rich creamy butter sauce), lamb saag (a mild dish cooked with spinach and exotic sauces), Sabzi korma (seasonal vegetables cooked in cashewnut gravy and spices) and Malai kofta (fresh cheese and potato dumplings simmered in a rich creamy sauce).  We also had 2 side dishes [raita (yoghurt and cucumber) and (banana and cocount)] as well as a mix of garlic and plain naan. 
The dishes came out quickly but without the rice accompaniment making it difficult to start the meal.  We had ordered 2 types of rice – “plain rice” (basmati saffron coloured rice cooked Punjabi style), and “Nargasi Charwal” (rice mixed with nuts, dessicated coconut and sugar).  The Nargasi Charwal came out particularly late and even then had to be made again when the kitchen used salt rather than sugar in the dish.  When the final (sugared) version arrived, it was quite interesting. On its own, it was far too sweet but it combined beautifully with some of the sauces cutting through their richness (and heat) allowing the more subtle spices to come through.
Of the main dishes, Kim, Jim and Karen thought the fish marsala was particularly nice.  It was lighter than the other dishes and had a delicate and tasty blend of spices.  In an amazing “about face”, Ron enjoyed the vegetarian Malai kofta dish while Megan was taken with the Saag lamb (will the world ever be the same again?).  However, neither was the best example of either dish – the kofta were a little dry and the lamb could have been been more fall-apart tender.
The butter prawns had an unusual coconut flavour which worked well with the texture of the prawns.  The first taste of the dish was very nice but the sweetness of the sauce became a little cloying after a while and our final impression was less favourable.  The last dish (Sabzi korma) was also a little uninspiring.  The sauce looked the same as most of the other dishes and wasn’t sufficiently different in taste to stamp its place in the banquet.
Overall the main dishes were all OK without being spectacular and if there was a difference between Punjabi and other types of Indian cuisine, it was not obvious. This was also true of dessert where we ordered 3 serves of the ubiquitous gulab jamun. 
Our meal came to $26 per person which is average for an Indian meal in Canberra and perhaps sums up our experience of the night.  While we were keen to try a different type of Indian cuisine, we found that the Punjabi Hut simply delivered standard Indian fare – rich and tasty without being distinguishable from other restaurants.  As for the promise of “simple and healthy” cuisine, we couldn’t work that out and that part of the mystery remains unsolved!   

 

 

 

Lemongrass Thai Woden 9 March 2016

Ratings (out of 5 stars)
Ambiance " 2 1/2
Taste: 2
Value : 2 1/2
Service: 3
Overall : 2 1/2

The Woden and Tuggeranong Lemon Grass Thai resturants are normally less busy than their popular sister restaurant in Civic but last Wednesday was an exception.  With Belinda Carlisle performing a sold out concert next door at the Southern Cross Club, there was an almost capacity crowd at the Woden restaurant.  To their credit, the restaurant handled the increased demand well and their service was fast, friendly and efficient. 

For 5 people, we ordered 2 entrées (treasure bags and deep fried prawns with almond flakes), 5 mains [(1)Thai Green Curry Seafood; (2)stir fried crispy pork belly with home made chilli kaffir lime jam, green beans and carrots; (3)red curry duck (with tomato and lychees); (4)Massaman beef curry; and (5) grilled bean curd with bean sprouts, salad, crushed peanuts and chilli-plum sauce] and 2 desserts (black rice pudding with coconut cream and home made cocount ice cream).  At around $30 per person, it was reasonable (rather than good) value for money. However we did end up with plenty of left overs.  Was this because we ordered too much or simply because Ron was away in Singapore? 

Both entrées were reasonably good.  John and Jim particularly enjoyed the treasure bags with their rich coconut and corn based filling.  Kim and Karen preferred the prawn entrée – the nutty almond flakes were a great contrast to the sweet prawn meat and the deep fried savoury batter.

We also really enjoyed 2 of the main dishes – the grilled tofu and the red curry duck.  The grilled tofu was perfectly cooked – firm and caramelised on the outside but quite soft and silky on the inside. The sweet chilli-plum sauce matched both the tofu and the salad greens and brought the dish together. 

The red curry duck is a long time favourite among the group.  The duck works well with the rich red curry sauce.  Normally the lychees would also create an explosion of sweetness in the dish cutting through the richness of the sauce.  Unfortunately this time only 1 lychee was on the plate and so this element was missing. 

We had high expectations of the two curries (green curry seafood and Massaman beef) but neither was especially memorable and Megan in particular was disappointed.  The dishes were swimming in  sauce and the beef in the Massaman curry was a little dry and chewy.  We have had much better meals at Lemon Grass Thai and we wondered if the crowded restaurant affected the quality of the meals.  This may also have explained our least favourite dish  - the crispy pork belly.  It had a very strong and overpowering belacan flavour.  Someone may have been a little heavy handed with the home-made chilli jam!

 

My's at Weston 10 February 2016

My’s restaurant in Weston is a popular local Vietnamese restaurant particularly among large family groups. It therefore tends to be quite busy early in the evening but quietens down later on.  However even when crowded, the restaurant has a nice family friendly feel and the service and ambiance is very good.

Only a small group of us were in town for our fortnightly dinner so we had to wonder whether it was luck or design that Jim brought along a particularly good bottle of wine to share.  As we sipped this delightful tipple, we may have got a little carried away with ordering and so the night ended up being much more expensive than usual ($40 per head) and not particularly good value for money.   

For 4 people, we ordered 1 entrée (prawn and zucchini fritters), 4 mains (Banana blossom salad with crispy pork belly and Prawns, Twice cooked boneless Duck in Plum sauce, Rock salt soft shell crab, Barramundi with green apple salad) and a dessert each (coconut rice cream with brandy). 

The entrée (prawn and zucchini fritter) was a bit surprising.  Rather than a fritter, it was a whole prawn wrapped in grated zucchini and then deep fried and served with a sweet fish sauce.  It looked interesting but the elements of the dish were all separate and there was no real combination of flavours.  The result was OK without being great. 

Also, unfortunately for us, along with a deep fried entrée, all of our main courses had an element which was either fatty or deep fried.  That meant that while each dish was individually good, the combination was a little too heavy (our fault rather than the restaurant’s!)

Of the main dishes, the duck was particularly popular. Perhaps it was the effect of Jim’s wine but we found that the more we ate the dish the more we liked it.   The duck was beautifully cooked with perfectly crisp skin. The very sweet plum sauce was perhaps was too sticky so didn’t seem to coat the duck effectively and there needed to be more crispy noodles.  However, true to form, our duck lovers (Jim and Ron) thought the dish was fantastic and rated it very highly bumping it up to number 1 in the rankings!

The other main dishes were also good.  The banana blossom dish was the most unusual dish of the night.  The shredded banana blossom added a nice texture to the dish and was a good contrast to the crispy pork. Unfortunately not all the pieces of pork were crispy and this let down the dish a little.  We also had mixed views on whether the prawns were necessary.  The textures should have worked well with the other ingredients but strangely didn’t – perhaps the prawns should have been kept whole rather than halved.    

Kinh Do 24-2-16

 

 

Although we rarely head over to the north side of Canberra for our restaurant nights, we can always make an exception for the Kinh Do Restaurant in Macquarie!  There is nothing fancy about this friendly home-style Vietnamese restaurant but the food and service is always good and they serve the best rice paper rolls in Canberra! 

For our group of 5 particularly hungry people, we ordered 2 entrées (fresh rice paper rolls and Vietnamese spring rolls), 4 main courses (Crispy Chicken with butter soy sauce, Prawns with Vietnamese mint, Braised Lamb with lemon grass, and Caramelised Pork) and 3 desserts (2 serves of Banana Cake with coconut cream and 1 serve of Banana Fritters).  This was plenty of food and worked out to a very reasonable $24 per person.

The fresh rice paper rolls were as good as ever and a great start to the meal. Jam-packed with fresh ingredients and served with a yummy hoisin-peanut dipping sauce, they were (in Ron parlance) “to die for”.   The Vietnamese spring rolls were OK but not up to the same standard.  They were under packed with filling so it didn’t come through enough over the deep fried wrapper.   

With the main courses, everyone particularly liked the crispy chicken with butter-soy sauce.  The flavoursome sauce was a perfect match with the crispy chicken. Not too sweet, it had a great mouth-feel and imparted both extra taste and moisture to the chicken meat. 

Ron, John and Jim also really enjoyed the lamb dish (Braised Lamb with lemon grass) but Karen found it a little too sweet for her taste. Somewhat ironically, she preferred the caramelised pork.  Although this is quite a standard Vietnamese dish, it was well-cooked and not overly sweet.  The last main course (Prawns with Vietnamese mint) was also the least favourite dish of the night.  We all love Vietnamese mint but even this couldn’t rescue a dish with watery prawns. 

For dessert we chose a banana cake and some banana fritters when other dishes weren’t available.  The banana fritters were pretty standard but the Asian-style banana cake (served warm with coconut cream) was surprisingly yummy and one of the nicest Asian desserts we had tried.  A great end to a fitting feast!

 

 

 

 

 

Chong Co Woden January 27 2016

 RATING out of 5 stars:
Ambiance: ***
Taste: **
Value: **
Service; **
Overall : ** 1/2

After a very welcome dose of summer rain, the Canberra evening was cool and fresh - a balmy 17^oC (3.8^oC above the January monthly average).  Could we have picked a better night for dinner at the open-fronted Chong Cho Thai restaurant in Woden?  Clearly most of Canberra didn’t think so because we arrived to find the restaurant very crowded. 

 

Squeezing through the densely packed tables, we headed to the only empty table in the restaurant – a good size one in a back corner.  It seemed a little quieter there - more the level of an “energetic buzz” than “I can’t hear myself think”.  If truth be known, most of the discernible noise may even have been our own lively chatter because as the restaurant started to empty, we didn’t notice it getting any quieter.

Despite (or perhaps because of) this, the restaurant has a pleasant al fresco ambiance.  The service was also efficient and friendly.   It is therefore not surprising that it is a popular lunch time destination for workers in the Woden area. Would it work just as well as a dinner venue?  We were about to find out.

The menu wasn’t particularly extensive.  There were a limited number of traditional Thai dishes in the main menu (such as Pad Thai and green chicken curry) and hints of more modern Thai cuisine in the signature dishes (lamb shank massaman curry and lamb cutlet with chilli and basil).  We chose a mix of dishes from both parts of the menu opting for the salmon green curry and Massaman lamb shank curry from the signature dishes and crispy soft shell crab with tamarind sauce, a mixed seafood lemongrass, duck salad and a cashew nut tofu/vegetarian stir fry from the main menu. 

Both the signature and main menu dishes came out beautifully presented with a modern flourish.  The Massaman curry, for example, had a (vertical) lamb shank surrounded by a sea of curried sauce topped with a decorative coconut swirl (very reminiscent of latte art).  Most of the other dishes featured a colourful side salad and a wonderful array of carved vegetables.  Andrew felt that this approach became formulaic when repeated over a number of dishes.  The decorative elements also took up space on the plate leaving less room for the main component of the dish.  This meant that portion sizes were comparatively small making it difficult to share the dish among a larger group.  The problem was particularly noticeable in the mixed seafood dish where we needed to divide 2 prawns, 2 scallops, 2 calamari and 2 mussels among 7 people – an impossible task. 

 Given the excellence in presentation, we had high expectations of each dish.  However while all the main dishes were reasonably tasty, none were particularly memorable.  The slow cooked lamb (in the Massaman curry) and the salmon (in the green curry) were both perfectly cooked but were swimming in sauces that weren’t particularly interesting.  The sauces used in the cashew nut stir fry and duck salad were less prominent but didn’t seem to do much for either dish.  The cashew nut stir fry sauce was too sweet for the vegetable/tofu ingredients and the rich, creamy coconut dressing in the salad overpowered (rather than complemented) the duck meat.   

Our favourite dish of the night was the crispy soft shell crab which received consistently high marks from everyone. The crab was beautifully cooked in a light and crispy batter and although the sauce was quite sweet (and very similar to the cashew nut stir fry sauce), it matched the dish well.  The other dish that scored well (at least for the guys) was the massaman lamb curry with its tender, fall-off- the- bone meat. 

Our least favourite dish of the night was dessert (I never thought we’d ever say that!).  We chose the sticky rice and banana in a banana leaf but found no banana leaf and hardly any sticky rice.   The small amount of sticky rice in the dish was combined with banana into a bland and gelatinous patty which was then served with a dollop of cream and ice cream.  In terms of taste, texture and presentation, it was disappointing.   

 Although the dessert was expensive ($9.50), the cost of the overall meal was reasonable.  With 6 dishes and 3 shared desserts, we paid $27 per person and there was plenty of food for 7 people (although we did fill up a bit on salad). Overall we thought it was an OK meal but there are better (and better value) Thai restaurants in Canberra.  It also does seem to be more suited to a lunch time crowd and smaller groups (2-4) (where the portion sizes aren’t going to be an issue).   

Dish	Rating (mark/10)							Ranking*
	Andrew	John	Jim	Karen	Megan	Ron	Average
Green Salmon Curry	7.5	6	8	6	6	7	6.75	5
Lamb Shank Massaman	8	8	8	7	5	8	7.3	2
Vegetarian Cashew nut Stir Fry	NR	6	7	7	6	7	6.6	6
Duck Salad	6	6	8	7	8	7	7	Equal 3/4
Crispy Soft shell crab with tamarind sauce	8	7	7	8	8	7	7.5	1
Mixed seafood lemon grass	NR	6	7	7	7	8	7	Equal 3/4
Dessert (banana and sticky rice)	NR	4	5	3	NR	5	4.25	7

*dishes ranked according to average scores

 

China Tea House 16 December 2015 and again 13 January 2016

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After struggling to find a car park near the China Tea House in Erindale, we walked into the restaurant to find it busy and quite noisy – a good sign on a Wednesday night!  According to Jim’s trusty phone app, the noise levels varied from 90-107 Decibels (depending on whether Ron was speaking!). To put that into perspective, 90 decibels is the same noise levels as factory machinery and 107 decibels is the same level as a subway train.  The noise meant that it wouldn’t have been the best restaurant for a romantic dinner but for a small group of 3 looking for good food at a reasonable price, we were in for a real treat.

The best part about the China Tea House is its menu.  Amongst the usual array of Chinese dishes are more innovative dishes with unexpected combinations of flavours with a changing blackboard menu that takes advantage of seasonal produce. Both Ron and Karen’s eyes lit up at the thought of a dish (from the blackboard menu) which had both Prawns and Lychees.  The dish lived up to our expectations – the sweet fresh lychees exploded in your mouth and complemented the prawns in both texture and flavour. 

The black board menu provided the other dish we really enjoyed - a crispy fish with a honey soy sauce.  The fish was freshly fried with a light, crisp outer layer and accompanied by a delicate, not too sweet sauce.  This matched the sweetness and delicateness of the fish beautifully.  The fish also included a lovely combination of quality fresh vegetables (carrot, shredded iceberg lettuce, sugar snap peas). Not only did this added texture to the dish, it mopped up the sauce and cut through its sweetness.  It was a surprisingly smart and well-constructed dish. 

The other two other dishes we ordered were not as good.  The duck pancakes were OK rather than great (the biggest problem was that they fell apart when we tried to eat them).  The stir- fried chicken fillets with almonds in a bird’s nest were disappointing.  There was a problem with the order and it came out much later than the other dishes.  Perhaps the kitchen rushed the dish too much to get it out to us.  They used fried wonton wrappers for the bird’s nest rather than potato straws – the effect was dry and tasteless and it detracted from the rest of the dish.  The chicken fillets themselves were also slightly dry and the sauce was uninteresting. While there was nothing inherently awful about the dish, it was one we wouldn’t recommend to others.

Despite this, overall we thought our meal was so good that we brought back the larger group for our first meal after the Christmas break.  This time there were 5 of us and we opted for 6 mains rather than having an entrée. Not surprisingly, we ordered the prawn and lychee dish again. This was as good as last time and still Ron’s favourite dish of the night.  The other dish we enjoyed last time (the crispy fish dish) seemed to have been changed from our last visit but there was a similar dish which we thought we would try in its place (a Thai style crispy fish with honey and soy sauce).  The Thai dish was very tasty but we did prefer its previous incarnation which had more vegetables and less lime in the sauce. Megan also thought the crust could have been crispier.

The other dishes we ordered were all fantastic - Japanese tofu with mushrooms, Yu Yuang Egg plant, Dry-fried spicy lamb and soft shell crab with spicy salt.  It was difficult to pick a favourite from among them and we didn’t all agree on one.  John and Jim particularly liked the stronger flavours in the dry spicy lamb (reminiscent of a Shantung lamb). Megan and Karen loved the Japanese Tofu. The tofu was beautifully silken in texture with a light, crispy outer layer and was perfectly balanced with an array of different mushrooms (the enoki was particularly nice).   We all also really enjoyed the Yu Yuang Eggplant.  The chilli sauce was wonderfully rich and its flavour was carried beautifully by the delicately textured eggplant. Finally, the soft shell crab was really good (John rated it as his #2 dish). It was a simple dish but done very well - the batter was lovely and light and was not all fatty like many others we’ve had in the past. Megan even commented that it was the best soft shell crab she'd tasted for a while.

So, it ended up being a great start to our year even if Andrew and Kim couldn’t make it.  It was a fantastic meal at a reasonable price ($25 a head) and we certainly had plenty to eat (even without the extra dish!).  Even so we still managed to talk ourselves into going to Goodberry’s to end the night with a dessert sundaes...ah, those guilty pleasures!