Posted in Thai, Uncategorized on 2010-07-21 12:48 by mel
Date: 18 July 2010
We have driven along the main street of Goulburn a couple of times in the past looking for somewhere to eat – this place has never been open, however, this time it was, so we decided to try it. This was a very quick dinner on a Sunday night after a day trip to Sydney. We were the only people in the restaurant although there were quite a few takeaway orders as we ate. We ordered veggie spring rolls, stir fried veggies and tofu with basil and chilli and a veggie panang curry, along with steamed rice. The food was great. The curry was creamy with the right amount of chilli. The basil and chilli dish had a nice bite to it without being overly hot. The spring rolls were good, but the dipping sauce made them – it was thick and spicy and kind of fruity – not really like any other dipping sauce that has come with spring rolls. The food came quickly and the service was friendly! Would we eat here again? Definitely!
Posted in Café, Winery on 2010-05-05 14:16 by mel
Date: 24 April 2010
This is a cafe at Lerida Estate Winery near Lake George. We stopped on impulse as we are often unable to stop at places like this when en route to/from Sydney, thanks to the dogs! However this time we were sans dogs and thought it would be nice to stop and eat and take a break from driving. Cafe Lerida has a beautiful view, however it was raining, so we were unable to sit outside and enjoy it. Inside the cafe, which is also the wine tasting area, has a warm buzzing atmosphere – and the food was really good as well! They have a smallish menu, however there were a few veggie options which were very clearly marked. Martin opted for the soup of the day – zucchini and chestnut, while I had the mushroom and leek quiche. The soup sounded like a slightly strange combination, and I think we were both a little wary of how it would taste – but it was divine! So divine, that one day soon I am going to find a recipe and make it! The mushroom and leek quiche was delicious and came with salad – but given the cold and dreary weather, I wanted to add the creamy mashed potato and tomato chilli jam that was listed on one of the other menu items – this was no problem. We also both ordered the recommended accompanying glass of wine from their range. For the soup this was a rose and the quiche it was a pinot gris. Both wines were lovely and matched the meals perfectly. Although the deserts looked delicious, we decided to taste some wine instead. And bought a few bottles, of course! If you are in the area, I would definitely recommend taking the time to stop!
Posted in Mexican on 13:59 by mel
Date: 28 March 2010
We have eaten at Francisco’s a few times and it is really good food. It is kind of a funny place – sitting out in the middle of an arcade, but the food is really good! They have a pretty good selection of veggie dishes and I have yet to eat something here that I haven’t liked. Both times recently I have had the same thing off the specials menu because it is just so good (but I can’t remember the name of it! It is kind of a Quesadilla type thing…). We have also had the red salsa and layered Mexican dip for entree’s – yum! In the past we’ve had the burritos, enchilada and tostadas – all delicious… Just writing about it makes my mouth water – definitely time to head back for more delicious food!
Posted in Asian on 2010-02-22 19:02 by mel
Date: 19 February 2010
We have eaten here a few times over the years, but for some reason there were a number of years where we didn’t – maybe we just forgot about it. It is a funny restaurant – hidden upstairs in Garema Place. If you don’t know it is there, you may very well walk past it… They have quite a variety of Asian cuisines on the menu and the veggie section is quite extensive. This time we had veggie curry puffs and veggie san choy bow for our entree. Both were quite good, although I think that we have had better curry puffs at other places. For our mains we had sizzling Mongolian tofu and stir fried veggies with lemon grass and fresh chilli – both of which we have had before. I love the sizzling tofu dishes and this one certainly does not disappoint! The veggies are fine, but the description always sounds better than they actually are – I’ll have to remember that for next time and try something else! All in all, a good Asian place with plenty of veggie options!
Posted in Turkish on 2010-02-03 12:47 by mel
Date: 2 February 2010
We discovered this place when having to spend a lot of time at John James Hospital. They do really good pides, amazing felafel rolls and the best baklava I have ever had (and I don’t really like baklava!). They also do really good borek, zucchini balls, mixed veggies and dips. We have eaten here and had take away a number of times and eaten a variety of things and the only thing I can complain about is the fact that they accidentally gave us a meat pide instead of the veggie one we ordered one time that we got take away. However, they sorted that out for us no problems! I think this is definitely some of the best Turkish food in Canberra at the moment!
Posted in Korean on 2009-12-27 09:08 by mel
Date: 26 December 2009
We decided to go out for lunch for our anniversary instead of dinner, and there wasn’t a whole lot of choice – especially since we decided not to do battle with the crowds in Civic!
We decided that we would try this Korean place in Dickson. We have had Korean food once before and it was very good, so we had reasonably high expectations. They were very helpful in getting a high chair for us, but quite slow on getting our water, however the food arrived reasonably quickly. We ordered steamed dumplings for our entree, and Dolsot-bibimbab and a vegetable pancake for our mains. A number of side dishes and sauces were also placed on our table, although no-one explained what they actually were… we were just told that they were side dishes… The dumplings were ok – Martin liked them more than I did! The dolsot-bibimbab is an interesting dish – it is rice, vegetables etc with an egg on top and comes in a hot stone pot – you stir it up and add hot chilli sauce and eat away. Everything continues to cook and the rice gets that lovely crunchy crust to it. However, I have to say they highlight of the meal was the vegetable pancake – it looked like a small pizza and it was utterly delicious!
Overall, not bad, but I think the place in Dunedin was better!
Posted in Indian on 2009-11-16 20:23 by mel
Date: 16 November 2009
I think this is a relatively new Indian restaurant in Manuka – certainly one that we haven’t discovered before! I was a bit nervous when we walked in as there was no-one else eating there – but it was lunchtime on a Monday… The menu is pretty varied and has a good vegetarian selection, as you would expect from an Indian restaurant. We decided to have the Kushi veg platter for two which had samosa, tandoori mushrooms and paneer tikka. It was all very yummy and came with a corriander chutney type sauce as well as a very nice spicy tomato-ey type chutney. Instead of getting the usual mains, we opted for dosai – rice and lentil crepes stuffed with different fillings. I had the masala dosai (spicy potato) and Martin had the onion masala dosai (spicy potato and onion). They were great – the dosai were light and crispy and the stuffing was spicy and delicious. They were just what we felt like! I think we might head back just for the dosai! The only thing that annoyed me a bit about this place was the overwhelming incense and the fact that the owner (?) spent a lot of time making phone calls using the speaker phone which echoed the dial tone and keypad noises around the restaurant! But the food was good!
Posted in Italian on 2009-11-12 11:33 by mel
Date: 8 November 2009
We haven’t eaten here in ages, and it is one of the few places open in Kingston on a Sunday, so we kind of ended up here by accident. That being said, the food was pretty good. We shared a large pizza with half mushroom and half vegetarian topping and a salad with olives, avocado and bocconcini cheese (can’t remember what it is called). I was a bit disappointed with the salad – only 2 pieces of tomato!! But their pizza is pretty good. The base is one of the nicest I have eaten, but the pizzas always seem to end up a little sloppy! Would definitely go back for pizza!
Posted in Café on 2009-10-28 05:43 by mel
Date: 24 October 2009
This is the cafe at the National Library. I have been here a few times for afternoon tea, but never had a meal here. So, when we were going to be here for another reason, around lunch time, we decided to try it out. They don’t have a hiuge variety of meals, but there was a decent choice. I had the spinach and feta fritata which came with salad. Martin opted for lemon souffle pancakes. The fritata was delicious and Martin said his pancakes were very good as well. We didn’t get the chance for dessert – a shame since everything I have had on previous visits for afternoon tea has been great! The only annoying thing is if it is full, it is very noisy and you can wait a while to order, however, the food arrived very quickly, so I guess that kind of cancels out the wait to order!
Posted in Indian on 2009-10-11 11:07 by mel
Date: 9 October 2009
We have eaten at Flavours of India in Civic a lot and also have had take away from here quite a bit since the first time we ate here – four years ago! This is really good Indian food and they have a pretty good variety of vegetarian dishes… of course we now have our favourites…
Aloo papdi chaat is now my all time favourite Indian starter! It is described as “spiced potatoes & spinach fritters tossed together with sweetened yoghurt, tamarind chutney & spiked with chaat masala” – YUM!
For our mains we had kadhai paneer (cheese, capsicum and onion in a sort-of-creamy tomato sauce) and aloo palak (potato and spinach), along with rice, raita and naans. Yum, yum and yum! As I have said before, not the cheapest Indian food around, but definitely delicious!