Brand stalking- omg! Chocolate and salted caramel, sounds delicious! Too bad I’m not close to a freezer anytime soon 😦
Month: April 2012
an after dinner mint
——-24/02/2012——-
After dinner at Banana leaf, my friend and I headed over to KoKo Black for something sweet.
We chose a selection of some of my favourite truffles- leatherwood honey; dulce de leche; salted caramel and mango. Mmmm so good!
Banana leaf
——-24/02/2012——-
After a ‘take advantage of late night shopping’ spree at the Canberra centre, my friend and I decided to take a short walk to Banana leaf and have dinner there. It is often busy and if you go later they usually run out of certain dishes, lucky for us when we got there they were able to seat us and nothing was sold out.
Entree~
Beef pan rolls – mildly curried diced beef and potato rolled in a crepe, finely crumbed and lightly fried, served with a salad garnish and condiments ($15.90) Delicious with different combinations of textures between the beef, crepe and crumbed outer layer. The only bad part was that I thought the serving size was too small
Mains~
Sri Lankan style rice and curry – traditional rice and curry from Sri Lanka is like being served a ‘buffet’ on a plate. Steamed rice with an assortment of a black and white curries, sambol, chutney and pappadam where colour, fragrance and taste come together in perfect harmony. Your choice of beef, chicken, fish or vegetarian curries ($26.90).
I chose beef which was tender but still had some fatty bits. I also enjoyed the vegetarian curry, although nothing really ‘wow’ed me on the plate. I would have preferred more beef pan rolls.
My friend chose chicken and I really liked her eggplant curry (small cup on the left). I wonder if I can just get that and rice next time…
The staff are friendly and attentive. I think the menu is interesting enough with string hoppers, Sri Lankan curries and rotti. I would like to come back and try more of the menu.
Venue: Banana leaf
Address: U2/ 240 -250 City Walk, Canberra City 2601
Phone: (02) 6248 5522
Fish n chups
——-18/02/2012——-
After ringing up six restaurants with all of them being booked out, I asked my stomach what it really felt like and it told me that I had a craving for a delicious cheese burger from Flatheads Cafe. So off we went, no reservation and no line up- a perfect no fuss dinner.
I know there are a lot of choices, but you can’t go past the humble BBQ sauce on a cheeseburger.
The menu has a selection of hot drinks, burgers, meal deals, fried foods and sweets like fritters and banana splits but I already knew what I was going to order.
A delicious cheeseburger– I’m not a fan of greens on my bun, so I just eat the lettuce and tomato first, leaving a soft bun with a delicious meat patty with melted cheese on top. The only bad thing is that the bun shape doesn’t match the patty so there will be some bites of just bread.
Fish and chips- not too oily and the chips are always have some crunch to it. I like how they give you lemon, salt and vinegar so you can add whatever you want.
With a side of tartare sauce.
Flatheads Cafe have friendly staff who bring out cutlery and water to the table (a nice touch to a simple take away store) and there isn’t much of a wait before your meal arrives. I really like the meat patty they have for the burgers, but sometimes I do just want to eat ‘fish n’ chups’, although their steak burgers are also good.
Venue: Flatheads cafe
Address: Shop 6 Macpherson St, O’Connor 2602 ACT
Opening times: Monday 9am – 8:30pm, Tuesday closed, Wednesday – Friday 9am- 9pm, Saturday 10am – 9pm, Sunday 10am-8pm although they do state that opening and closing times may vary.
Entertainment book: yes, it’s a tear out voucher for ‘buy one get one free’ fish and chips.
My accessories make me hungry
My new lunch box!
Was munching on… an Apple pie gelato
The golden book
With the new Entertainment book for 2012/2013 now available, it made me reminisce about all the places I had eaten at during the past year with my vouchers/gold card and I definitely got my values worth, possibly from my first two restaurants!
Places I’ve been with the golden book in hand before my blog note book:
- Flavours of India
- Debarcle
- Sanur’s Balinese restaurant
- Phu Pho Quoc
- Shogun Japanese Teppanyaki restaurant
- Taze
- Bollywood Dimensions Indian Cuisine
- Urban pantry
- Shalimar Indian restaurant
- Gelatissimo
- All bar nun
- Oriental Terrace
- Baskin Robbins
- Hogs breath Canberra
- Urban food
- Indian Affair restaurant
- Turkish grill
- La Scala restaurant
- MY’s restaurant
- Hudsons in the garden
- Sfoglia
- Ainslie Football Club
- Quince and Almond
- China Tea club
- da Nunzio cafe bar ristorante
- Calibre cafe and bar
- Blu Ginger Indian Cuisine
- La Posada
I just got my next Entertainment book after looking at the tattered state of my 2011/2012 book. The book has new inclusions such as Wild duck (Kingston), Bicicletta (New Acton) and Halong restaurant (Dickson), places which I cannot wait to try. The Canberra Entertainment book can be purchased for $55 through fundraising organisations.
Canberra’s book is small in comparison to the Sydney book. My sister had to rip her book in sections because it’s so big!
Stealing spoonfuls of… Yalla chocolate mousse- it didn’t win awards for nothing! Thick, rich and creamy Mmmmmm
Currently munching on… Maggie Beer’s creme caramel- so good and a beautiful texture
With the recent Earth Day 2012, it reminded me of this quote:
“Save the earth. It’s the only planet with chocolate.” ~Author Unknown
You gotta eat the ears first so the Lindt bunny can’t hear you coming
Soju girl
——-16/02/2012——-
I was taking two tough critics with me to Soju girl, a highly acclaimed Asian influenced restaurant located at the Melbourne building where I believe the chef was from Parlour room.
They have cute 1/2 sized bottles of wine!
Small plates~
I don’t know how much basil they go through but I guess it would be a lot because it seemed to be on everything.
Soft shell crab, som tom salad, citrus dressing ($18.00) this was really crispy (think potato crisp) and not overly oily but also not much flavour.
Chargrilled prawn, wonton, spicy foam ($18.00) I loved the salad, the flavours and textures really complimented each other. I thought the spicy foam was amazing and could have dipped everything in that.
Crispy pork hock, red date puree, black vinegar caramel ($16.00) I found the pork a little bit of a hit and miss, the first piece I ate was really crispy and so tasty but the subsequent pieces were more fatty and soft.
Large plates~
So there isn’t ‘entrees’ and ‘mains’ but rather ‘small plates’ and ‘large plates’ and they weren’t kidding about ‘large plates’! Between the three mains there wasn’t any room to put much else on the table. I’ve put my hand for scale reference and may I point out again I don’t have huge man hands.
** all dishes accompanied by rice**
Tataki cut sirloin 2 ways, ginger carrot puree, kinoko gari salad ($38.00) I couldn’t tell what was ‘2 ways’ about the sirloin but it was delicious. The ginger and carrot puree was so creamy and buttery and very addictive but I was not a fan of the salad- there was too much vinegar and the cauliflower was hard.
Coconut braised duck, yellow curry ($36.00) It was served in one big ass bowl! The duck was flavoursome if you ate it with the skin, but the flavours of the curry didn’t infuse into the meat and even though the duck was in the sauce, it still felt a bit dry.
Whole baby snapper, chilli jam, Thai herbs ($33.00) Not so ‘baby’- the curved back was really crispy and delicious, the other side was cooked but dry and because there was no sauce or texture, it was just plain fish. This is not for those who don’t like fish with lots of little bones.
This restaurant is obviously becoming very trendy being completely booked out and very noisy (I almost couldn’t hear my friends). It was a shame that my friends weren’t up for some dessert because the Asian influence made them sound really interesting, so I might come back next time for ‘small plates’ and try some dessert.
One of my friends has been back since and even though she was with a big table, the only booking they could get was seating near the bar which was fine by them and they racked up quite a bar tab.
I preferred the ‘small plates’ as I found them more adventurous and delicious but I must say that even though the food (depending on what you choose) was good it is very expensive for the serving size.
2 Yummy BBQ Noodle House
Ever since the sad and mysterious closing of Hidden Dragon in the CBD, I’m always on the look out for a Chinese restaurant to rival their delicious duck laksa, chicken chow mein and roast meats. I had heard rumours that one of the chefs who worked at Hidden Dragon now works at 2 Yummy BBQ Noodle House so I was definitely keen to check it out.
Sang choy bow with roast duck (2 pcs $15.60) Seemed a bit expensive for what it was, the duck taste was subtle even though there were big chunks of it.
Combination roast (duck and pork) ($17.60) The meats were succulent, the pork had crispy skin and the duck was juicy, just the way I like it.
Double mushrooms with green vegetable ($18.60) A nice mix of greens with mushrooms, although I found the price is a bit steep for vegetarian dish.
Chicken chow mein ($13.60) I love this noodle in chow meins but this wasn’t as good as Hidden Dragon.
Honey King Prawns ($20.60) A generous serving of prawns and the sauce is separate for those who like to control their honey portion.
Chinese tea
With just a casual setting and simple menu including traditional Chinese dishes (don’t be put off by all the offal choices), don’t expect table cloths and special night out, but do expect delicious Chinese roast meats.
It is conveniently located on the ‘Board walk’ at Belconnen by the water and I want to come back and try the ‘suckling pig banquet menu’, it sounds delicious!
Venue: 2 Yummy BBQ Noodle House
Address: 3/114 Boardwalk Emu Bank Belconnen 2617
Phone: (02) 62516622
Opening Hours: Close on Monday
Tuesday-Thursday / Sunday
11:30am – 2:30pm
4:30pm -10:00pm
Friday-Saturday
11:30am – 2:30pm
4:30pm -10:30pm
Zierholz re-run
——-10/02/2012——-
Ok, yes yes, I have been to and posted about Zierholz several times so I’ll make this quick. I really wanted to try their pork knuckle (only available Fri-Sun), although I was still hesitant to order it because I didn’t want to be disappointed just in case it wasn’t as delicious as the mixed platter, which I’ve enjoyed multiple times before.
Kids menu~
Chicken Schnitzel with your choice of either mash potato, garden salad or potato wedges ($12.50). A nice small portions for children, although he still didn’t finish it, I was tempted to help him out.
Mains~
Slow Cooked Pork Belly – pork belly oven roasted in porter served with red cabbage, mash & jus ($23.00). This was a bit disappointing considering it’s my favourite part of the mixed platter. It looks like ordering just the pork belly, it doesn’t come out as crispy and delicious as the smaller pieces on the platter. The skin was more fatty and chewy rather than crispy.
Zierholz Sharing Platter (min.2 people) Chef’s selection of sausages, pork belly & schnitzel, accompanied by salad & mash ($22.00 p.p) Everyone’s favourites all on one platter, the hard part is trying to get your ‘even’ share when it’s a free-for-all, one platter and one pair of tongs situation.
Pork Knuckle served with sauerkraut, braised cabbage, mash ($26.00). No regrets! So yes, since I’ve had the platter every time I’ve been here I convinced myself ‘this is what I was here for’- oh and the good company . The skin was sooooo crispy that I had to hold my steak knife like a murder weapon and stab it several times before I could penetrate through the top layer. A lot of people told me this was big, but I found myself still a little hungry even after salvaging all the meat from the bone.
Dessert~
Because I am behind in some of my posts and I forgot my blogging notebook on this particular night, I’m not exactly sure what this was. I think it was a sticky date pudding but instead of the traditional butterscotch sauce, it was served with chocolate sauce with some sort of alcohol… It was ok but I preferred the traditional butterscotch sauce or the apple strudel that I had previously.
The food comes out in a timely manner and the staff is friendly. I can imagine this doing very well at its new location @ University of Canberra.
Zierholz At The Brewery Opening Hours:
Monday- Tuesday Closed
Wednesday 11:30am – 3:00pm
Thursday 11:30am – 6:00pm
Friday – Saturday 11:30am – 9:30pm
Sunday 11:30am – 3:00pm
Zierholz At UC Opening Hours:
Monday 10:00am – 6:00pm
Tuesday 10:00am – 9:00pm
Wednesday – Friday 10:00am – Late
Saturday 12:00am – Late
Sunday Closed
TALES OF A CONFECTIONIST 